WWE: The Game Returns
by Christian Orton
Summary: Twelve years from now, in 2020, Triple H is retired. What happens if he chooses to make a comeback?
1. Proloue

PROLOGUE

Triple H went down hard

Triple H went down hard. He spat a mouthful of blood and looked up. Randy Orton was standing by him, sadistic smirk and all. Hunter heard the crowd chant his name, so he got up using the ropes for leverage. He landed a strong right hand to Orton. The two continued to exchange blows. Hunter whipped Orton across the ropes, and when Orton came running back, he came at him with his signature spinebuster. But the energy and sudden rush of adrenaline left him. He was fading.

"One!," The referee yelled.

"Two!," The referee yelled again.

Both Triple H and Randy Orton were on the ground, struggling to get up. It was August 24, 2016. Summerslam. Both men were fighting for the most coveted prize in the business: The WWE Championship. They've held it numerous times before. Triple H was a legendary fourteen-time world champion; Randy Orton was a seven-time world champion and is the current reigning champion.

"Three!," yelled the ref. Both men began to stir. Triple H got up first, and took the opportunity to knee Orton in the face as he got up. He grabbed Orton and placed his head in between his legs, hooked his arms, signaling for the famed Pedigree. But all of a sudden, his vision went dim. Hunter felt himself wobble. He involuntarily released Orton and dropped to his knees. Everything was fading again. Noticing that Triple H was vulnerable, Randy took this time to recuperate and when his opportunity came, punted Triple H's head.

Triple H fell face-first into the mat with a sickening thud. Randy went for the pin but released the hold just before the count of three. He got up, and just like that he leap into the air, came crashing down knee-first into Triple H's lower back with all of his body weight. Triple H screamed in agony, but Orton went for the pin and won the match, retaining his title. Holding the belt up high, Orton basked in the glory of his victory, but for Triple H, the walk back to the locker room was a long one, even with assistance from the referees.


	2. Alone at the gym

Triple H is retired. He has been retired for four years. Since his retirement, he has bounced from one job to another. From starring in an action movie or a reality TV show to returning to WWE programming as an authority figure. He served as RAW General Manager for about a year before relinquishing the position to Shane McMahon, his brother-in-law. Strangely enough, his career-ending lower back injury and subsequent retirement brought him and his ex-wife Stephanie McMahon closer than they had been in years. After seeing each other for a couple of months, the two re-married in a private ceremony. Despite getting his personal life back on track, Triple H still felt unsatisfied. He slipped away from the public eye a little while back and now runs his own chain of first class gyms across the country.

Hunter was by himself one day at his gym in Greenwich, Connecticut. The only people there that day was two gangly teenagers and their respective instructors. It was a very boring day and business was not picking up lately. Hunter sat at his desk with a beer at hand watching some of his old matches on tape. Since his depression started, he began to drink more and more, discarding his previous distaste for alcoholic beverages. He took a drink from his can and stared at a younger version of himself on TV. Hunter smiled. The particular match he was watching was his match at WrestleMania XXIV. He looked on as Randy Orton proceeded to win the match, walking away still WWE Champion. Now that always ate him up inside.

Randy Orton "The Legend Killer". Or rather "The Living Legend" as he calls himself now. Hunter's smile turned into a frown. He practically made Orton. Raised his career, like a parent raises a child. The fact that he used to be Randy's mentor only fuels his rage. The ungrateful punk who retired him four years ago. The same punk who used to look up to him…

* * *

"Hey champ, look over there." Ric Flair said.

"What is it?" Triple H asked.

Ric pointed to a tall, quiet kid standing by himself at the corridor. Triple H recognized him immediately. He looked a little bit shy and intimidated, slumped shoulders and all, but there was no doubt that it was him.

"Hey, isn't that Cowboy Bob Orton's kid, Randy?" Hunter asked.

"Damn right. Ever seen the kid wrestle? He's phenomenal." Ric said. "I'm telling you, if he were just a little bit more confident in his abilities, show some charisma here and there, he could be a major player. What do you think, champ?" Ric continued to ask.

"I think you're right, Naitch. I think you're right. Why don't we introduce ourselves?" Hunter said.

So the two of them went over to Orton. He immediately looked up and smiled. Hunter grasped his World Heavyweight Title tightly on his shoulder and extended his hand over to Orton.

"What's up kid? You know us right?" Triple H said smugly.

"Yes sir. You're the World Champion Triple H." Randy said.

"Woo! What about the Nature Boy? Don't tell me you don't know me boy." Ric added.

"Of course, I know you too Ric. So what's up guys?" Randy said nervously.

Triple H and Ric Flair looked at each other. Rookies, they thought. Always trying to be polite and proper, but a little show of respect already goes a long way. This kid definitely had it. He was about to get the opportunity of a lifetime.

"We've seen you wrestle kid, and let me just say, we like what we see." Triple H said. "And we want to take you to the next level if you're interested." He could see that he had Randy's attention.

"Really? Wow, that would be awesome. Thank you." Randy said gratefully.

"Don't mention it kid" Triple H said, putting his hand on Orton's shoulder. "See, those of us with real talent should stick together."

"The Game and I could see you as the World Champion in just a few years. You're that good kid. You're that good." Ric said.

"Yeah, but you forgot one thing Naitch." Triple H said.

"What's that?"

"He's gonna have to wait until I'm gone before he gets a crack at my belt."

* * *

Hunter looked solemn. That memory seemed so long ago. He could still remember the desire and the ambition in Randy's eyes that day. He could even remember what he said about Orton having to wait until he's gone before he can become the champ. How ironic that many years later it would be Randy himself who would usurp his throne. Suddenly the phone rang. Hunter picked it up and shut those thoughts away for the time being.

"Hello. This is Mr. Hemsley speaking." He said.

"Hey Hunter, It's Shawn. We need to talk, there's something you have to hear."


	3. Hunter's Reckoning

Triple H went down hard

Triple H was surprised to hear that voice again. The man he was talking to was "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels, WWE Hall of Famer and Bona-fide Legend. Shawn retired two years after Hunter did. In fact, Shawn was still active when he was inducted. Similar to Ric Flair and The Undertaker who retired that very same year as he did. Since his retirement, Shawn had distanced himself from wrestling, choosing to live peacefully in his ranch down at San Antonio. The last time they spoke was at Shawn's induction ceremony, because like Triple H, Shawn decided to stay away from public eye.

"Hey Shawn, Good to hear from you. What is it?" Triple H asked.

"Check out the news. I think you might find it interesting." Shawn said grimly.

"What's this all about Shawn?" Hunter inquired.

"Trust me on this one. You need to hear this for yourself." Shawn said, this time, with a sense of urgency.

Hunter turned off the DVD and flipped the channel over to the news. There was a press conference on. The man being interviewed was someone Hunter knew very well. His hair was now longer than ever. He is now longer clean shaven and now sports a 5 O'clock shadow. Although noticeably older, there was no doubt that it was him. It was Randy Orton.

"Randy, tell us. What can we expect from you this Sunday night at Backlash?" The reporter asked.

"It's real simple. Those wannabe Legend-Killers are about to learn their lesson the hard way." Randy said smugly. "And if those DX bastards think about interfering in my match, then they better start lining up in the unemployment line."

"What do you mean?" The reporter asked.

"It's real simple. The stipulation has been made that if DX interferes then they are fired." Randy said with a glow in his eyes.

Triple H knew that glow. Orton, whoever he was facing, was reveling in the thought of killing the careers of the new rising stars to prove that there is only one Legend-Killer, and that Legend-Killer has transitioned to the rank of Legend himself. The only question on his mind however was: What does that have to do with him? Triple H put the phone back in his ear.

"Are you watching this crap?" Shawn asked.

"Yeah, the bastard's still cockier that ever. Is this all?" Triple said.

"Nope. Got any plans this Sunday?"

"Where are you going with this Shawn?"

"I'm saying…" Shawn said mischievously "Me and Ric are thinking about going over to Detroit for this Sunday's Backlash…And we got an extra ticket since Mark bailed on us."

"Taker can't make it? Why's that?" Hunter asked.

"He's working on this big real estate project down in Dallas. He says it has dollar signs written all over it. So, you up for? It'll be great." Shawn said.

Hunter thought about it. It has been a while since he's seen any wrestling live, and as much as he hates to admit it, deep down he's still a fan. Plus it'll give him a chance to surprise Stephanie at work. He watched the conference once more. He remembers being in press conferences before. Shawn was right. He did find it interesting and it brought up a lot of memories too.

"Well…What's it gonna be Hunter? You in or not?" Shawn asked.

And after some hesitation, Hunter finally spoke up. "Yeah. I'm in." He could hear Shawn laughing at the background.

"It's gonna be just like old times. You, me and the Nature Boy. Styling and Profiling." Exclaimed Shawn.

"Uh, Shawn, only Ric actually does that. We were never that smooth with the ladies, telling them to suck it and all that." Hunter said with a smile on his face.


	4. Backlash

Triple H went down hard

Triple H was lucky enough to get the last flight to Detroit, Michigan for WWE Backlash. When he got to the airport he was met by two guys, Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair. Flair, at the age of 71, was still looking good and with a smile on his face as usual. Shawn was balding, a spot in his head he often covered with a cowboy hat.

"Wooo! How are you Champ? You look great." Ric said.

"Thanks Naitch. I'm fine. How're you guys hanging up?" Hunter asked.

"You know the usual. Still going bald and Naitch here's still on Viagra." Shawn said casually.

"Now why'd you have to bring that up?" Ric said half-jokingly.

Triple H laughed and for a while all three of them were laughing, just like old times. They took Shawn's car and drove to the arena where WWE Backlash was being held. The seat was ringside seats and was as close to the action as you can get without actually being in it. They got there before the event went underway and was able to see some of the guys again. They were having some dark matches with preliminary talent to start things off. Then the announcers came down to ringside towards their announce table. The play-by-play announcer was none other than Todd Grisham, who after being a backstage announcer for so long was finally getting his shot at the big time, and his partner, the color commentator was the former World Heavyweight Champion, Dave Batista. Hunter and Dave exchanged glances and Dave went over to them with a huge smile on his face.

"There he is." Ric said. "There's our boy."

"Hey, nice to see you guys again. I didn't know you guys where gonna be here." Dave said.

"Yeah well, we just thought we'd show Hunter here a good time." Shawn said.

"Really?" Dave said, now turning his attention to Hunter. "How've you been man?"

"Great, man. Just here to enjoy the show."

Batista chatted with them for a little while longer but had to go to the announce table went the pyro went off which always signals the start of the show. Backlash officially started with the first match of the night being a World Tag Team Championship match between a tag team called "The Morlocks" and the current Tag Team Champions, Kyle and Kenny Robins, representing the "DX Version 2.0". Hunter smiled as he listened to the remixed DX theme music. So these guys were the ones Orton was talking about. He watched the match intently as DX version 2.0 defended their tag titles.

"Kenny Robins, going to the top rope." Todd Grisham said as called the match.

"And he's dragging one of the Morlocks with him." Batista said.

"I think he's going for it." Todd Grisham said.

"Going for what?" Triple H asked.

"Just wait. This is gonna be good." Shawn said.

Kenny grabbed his opponent and set him up on the top rope and proceeded to perform what looked liked a pedigree off the top rope. His partner, Kyle also climbed the top rope and then performed a picture-perfect moonsault for the win. This new version of DX immediately received a standing ovation from the crowd but before leaving Kyle grabbed a mic and addressed the crowd.

"Before we came out here" Kyle began. "We were informed that we have three very special members of the audience in attendance."

Everybody began to cheer and those seated near Hunter, Shawn and Ric began chanting their names. Everybody began to take notice of them. Ric and Shawn were just soaking the cheers in, but Hunter wasn't so sure. It's been a long while since anybody ever cheered for him and the last time that happened was when his eight year old son was cheering for him at the gym while he was attempting to bench press three hundred pounds again. His wife sure wasn't cheering him on. She had warned him about overtraining at the gym, especially since his body was never the same after his injury.

"Without further ado, we give you The Nature Boy Ric Flair!" Kyle yelled. Flair stood up and acknowledged the fans.

"The Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels!" Kyle continued. Shawn got up and took a bow like Flair.

"And finally, the fourteen-time World Champion, The Game Triple H!"

Triple H stood up and the entire arena erupted. They were directing their chants at Triple H. Some were just going crazy cheering him on while others were chanting "One more Match!" Triple H felt a bit of pride swell up in him. The fans haven't forgotten about him after all. Just when everything seemed perfect, a very familiar entrance theme started to play, and Randy Orton made his way to the ring.

Everyone turned their attention to Orton as he entered the ring, mic at hand, and stared at the two DX'ers. People started to boo him but as always, Orton ignored them as if they were nothing. The two DX'ers stood their ground and stared back, albeit with hostile looks. Orton smirked before glancing towards Triple H and company.

"Let me remind you that you are on borrowed time." Randy said slowly.

"DX…" He said with contempt in his voice. "I killed the Legend of DX long ago." He stared at Triple H and HBK before speaking, "See those two has-beens?" he said, pointing to Hunter and Shawn. "When I was your age, I was already beating the hell out of Legends like them, and their legacy, their legend, was reduced to myths."

This time he turned to face them both. Shawn remained seated while Ric looked disgusted. Triple H tried to remain as cool and calm as possible. Orton stared at all of them, but stared at Triple H the longest. He smiled that cocky grin of his, and started to talk even more trash.

"Well if it isn't Triple H. Haven't seen you in a while. Where've you been? Hiding in some broken down bungalow deep in the heart of Texas with your little buddy Shawn?" Randy asked mockingly.

Shawn got up; shaking with rage, but Ric was able to restrain him. Orton smiled at them before solely addressing them.

"What's wrong Shawn? Feeling that itch again? You wanna come up here and fight? Because if that's what you want then by all means Ric, let him go." Randy taunted. Shawn leaped over the barricade but then he hesitated for a while before retreating back to the audience.

"Just like I thought." Randy said arrogantly.

Shawn sat down fuming, Ric was consoling him, but Triple H only had eyes for Orton. The two of them stared at each other with anger and rage rising in Triple H's gut. Orton looked like he wasn't gonna back down but before anybody could break the silence, the entrance theme of Randy's opponent started to play and even a ref was on his way to the ring. Orton's opponent was a young, muscular, blond man and immediately charged at Randy, only to receive a boot to the face in retaliation. The match went on for about ten minutes before Randy could hit the RKO for the pinfall victory. After the match, Randy grabbed the microphone and stared at Triple H again.

"Triple H…Triple H, if you had any common sense, you'd take your buddies and leave."

"I'm not going anywhere." Triple H yelled in defiance.

"Oh, you're not gonna leave?" Randy said. "Well fine then. I guess we do this old school."

Randy got out of the ring and stared at Triple H, face to face, before spitting in his face. Triple H struggled to remain calm, but before he knew it Randy had slapped him in the face. This was more than anybody could take. Ric threw himself at Orton, throwing punches left and right. Shawn hopped the barricade and the two of them were now ganging up on Orton. Orton fought back and kicked Shawn in the groin before leveling Flair with a hard punch. Flair was bleeding and was continued to be assaulted by Randy Orton, when Triple H came to his rescue. The crowd went nuts as Triple H got physical for the first time in years.

The two traded punches and although Triple H had the initial advantage, Orton sadistically grabbed Triple H and gave him a backbreaker. As Triple H lay helpless on the ground, Orton continued to taunt him.

"Is that all?" Randy exclaimed. "I just had a hellacious match and you old bastards still couldn't beat me in a three on one fight."

The crowd was on the verge of rioting, and Randy knew that. He quickly made his way up the ramp, but before leaving he called Triple H out once more.

"Triple H! This is not over! Come up here, where your friends can't help you." Randy said.

"You're dead!" Triple H managed to say as he got up.

"No, you can't!" said Ric Flair, clutching away at Hunter's heel.

"Hunter, stop!" said HBK, finally getting up and restraining him.

"Just what I thought. Too scared to fight. Maybe you should listen to them Triple H and maybe, just maybe, you can save yourself the trouble of having to go through another injury." And with that remark, Randy Orton left the stage.


	5. Aftermath

Triple H went down hard

Backstage, Ric Flair was receiving medical treatment, with doctors stitching up his cut. The impromptu attack by Randy Orton had caused a lot of trouble backstage. Orton himself has left the building and Stephanie McMahon, General Manager of Smackdown, was irate particularly towards Triple H for his involvement in the incident. While the Shane McMahon and Jonathan Coachman, the General Managers of Raw and ECW respectively, attempted to pacify some of the other wrestlers, Stephanie spoke with Hunter and Shawn in her office.

"What is wrong with the two of you? Have you forgotten that you are no longer contracted performers?" said Stephanie angrily.

"Look, I know it was only done in self-defense, but I can't afford this kind of controversy. Not anymore. Things have change around here, unless you've forgotten already."

"Look Steph." Shawn began to speak. "We had no intention of fighting whatsoever. We did what we had to. You can't expect us to leave that lying around."

"Besides, that bastard deserved the beating he got." Triple H said menacingly. Shawn nodded in agreement. Stephanie, however, looked frustrated.

"I'll admit what Randy did was way out of line, but his punishment will come later. I'm just concerned with Ric. He's seventy-one years old for God's sakes. He doesn't belong in there anymore. I'm going to o check on him and if I were you, I'd stay out of the locker rooms."

Stephanie left her office. Shawn and Hunter remained silent for a while before leaving themselves. Just as Stephanie said, the locker rooms looked mutinous. The wrestlers were obviously outraged at what had happened. Shawn and Hunter were just about to head over to where Ric was being stitched up when suddenly two guys approached them. It was Kyle and Kenny Robins, two smallish, cruiserweight sized guys who not only are the World Tag Team Champions but are also members of DX version 2.0.

"Hey, uh, listen." Kyle began nervously "I just wanted to say thanks, you know? For sticking out for me and my brother. We never meant for anything like this to happen."

"Yeah, how's the Nature Boy doing?" Kenny said. Triple H just looked at both of them. For members of DX, these guys looked rather shy and quiet. He couldn't help but feel a mixture of pity and pride.

"It's Ok, don't worry about it. Shit like this used to happen to us all the time." Hunter said.

"Oh, well um, if it's all the same to you guys, we'd like you to meet someone."

Hunter and Shawn exchanged looks. "Uh, sure kid. Who do you want us to meet?"

The two brothers led them towards a private locker room with a sign on the door that says "DX Version 2.0". They went inside and there were three other guys there. One was huge and resembled Triple H himself, with his trunks and long blonde hair. The other guy was bald with a couple of DX themed tights and the last guy was a tall young man with dark brown hair, a five O' clock shadow and long tights which unlike his teammates, are not DX oriented, seeing as they are Black and Red in color scheme, disregarding the iconic green color of DX.

"I'd like you to meet the rest of the gang." Kyle said cheerfully. "Everybody, this here is Triple H and Shawn Michaels, the founding fathers of DX."

The kids looked shocked at what they saw, but nonetheless came to both of them and shook their hands. The tall young man in the different colored tights however, failed to smile. He approached them after everybody else and shook Hunter's hand.

"Hey, I'm Jason, Jason Teague. I lead these guys." He said. "I heard about what you guys did for my boys. Thanks, but I don't think it was necessary."

"Why not? C'mon, we where glad to help you guys out." Triple H said.

"Yeah, but look at what happened to Ric Flair. I didn't deserve that."

"Maybe not, but you guys would've done the same thing for us." Triple H said. He looked like he was about to say something before hesitating. He looked up at Jason's eyes. At everyone's eyes. They were all saying something, but he just can't make out what. Was it pity? Anger? Something in his gut told Triple H that it was a little bit of both.

"Listen man, you don't have to do this sorta thing anymore. We'll take over from here. We appreciate the help, but the truth is, we can't allow more legends like you or Ric Flair to keep on taking the punishment for us forever." Jason said with a concerned look on his face. Triple H didn't like the sound of that. It sounded like he was being told that he was just another has-been, that he didn't deserve to be in the ring anymore.

"Maybe they're right Hunter." Shawn said. "Maybe we should just step back, after all, it's their time to shine now. Our time has come and gone."

"What if it's not?" Hunter said, sounding desperate. "What if there's still a little bit left?"

"What do you mean?"

"Look, maybe it's over for you but it was never over for me. I never got to end it. My career was taken from me-"

And with that statement, Hunter had another flashback. He could see Randy Orton again. It was the leap of Destiny, as Orton later called it, leaping on Triple H's back, nearly paralyzing Triple H's lower body in the process. Hunter could remember the doctor's office. He was scared. Panicking. He watched the doctor slowly enter the room, no smile on his face.

"Mr. Hemsley, I'm afraid I've got some bad news." The doctor said. Hunter's heart sank.

"It's a miracle that you're not a paraplegic right now, but I'm afraid you can never, ever wrestle again."

Hunter's whole world came crashing down at that very moment. Silent tears started to flow. His career, his livelihood, his passion for the past twenty-four years is gone. Prematurely ended. Forever.

Triple H's consciousness drifted back to the present time. Everybody was staring at him, most probably because, like in his memory, he too was in tears. Wiping the tears out of his eyes, he apologized to everyone and left the building and went straight to the hotel. He sat there for the longest time, thinking. A little later Ric and Shawn arrived. Hunter and Ric then drank themselves to sleep while Shawn lay in his bed, too troubled to drink. When everyone else was asleep, Hunter, who was only pretending to be drunk and drowsy, got up. He stared at his friends, one asleep soundly without even bothering to change his clothes and the other sleeping on the ground in a puddle of beer barely wearing clothes.

Shawn Michaels, The Heartbreak Kid. Five time World Champion. WWE Hall of Famer. What a career he had. He went down in a blaze of glory and everyone will remember him for his amazing accomplishments.

Ric Flair. The Nature Boy. The Sixteen time World Champion. WWE Hall of Famer. At the age of fifty-nine, Naitch was among the oldest superstars to retire, but what a career he had. Possibly the greatest wrestling career ever. He went out stylin' and profilin'.

What about him? What about Triple H? Fourteen World Championships to his name and yet the only thing most people remember him for was the fact that he was probably the most infamous victim of the Legend Killer, Randy Orton. Deep down, he knew it wasn't over. It couldn't be. His career wasn't finished. If he didn't do anything soon, it would be too late. He had to know. He had to act on it. Triple H picked up his phone. Somewhere in Pittsburgh, a drowsy doctor picked up.

"What do you want? It's 3 am!" The doctor said.

"Doc? It's Hunter. I need you to examine me as soon as you can!"

"Whoa there! Slow down! Hunter? You just came to see me six months ago. What's wrong? Threw out your back trying to bench press three hundred pounds again? I thought I told Stephanie to keep you away from those things."

"No, it's something else."

"What is it then? What do you want?"

Hunter paused. His hand shaking, his mind racing, his heart pounding. He finally spoke up after a brief silence.

"I'm thinking about going back to wrestling."

The doctor couldn't believe what he just heard. Suddenly, he wasn't that sleepy anymore. The two of them spoke the whole time until dawn.


	6. Hardcore Revelation

Triple H flew all the way to Pittsburgh to meet Dr. Alfred Yankovic, the same man who treated his lower back injury four years ago. They met at his office where Dr. Yankovic did several tests on Triple H, analyzing carefully the results. The whole thing lasted for five hours and after waiting, they sat down and discussed the results privately. As Hunter watched the doctor paced back and forth, his heart began to beat violently. Finally, the doctor sat down and addressed him.

"Now Hunter," he began "This is not gonna be easy to say but, I think that given your situation, I still don't think it's advisable for you to go back to wrestling."

Hunter took a deep breath. Somehow he knew this was coming. He didn't know what to say. He'd been so hopeful, so…full of crap. It was wrong for him to think that he was gonna get back into wrestling. Deep down he knew it. His obsession with wrestling blinded him from the truth. When Arn Anderson suffered a career-ending upper back and neck injury, he knew his time was up and he walked away. Smart man. When Stone Cold Steve Austin's doctors told him to get out of wrestling due to a severe neck injury, he eventually let it go and since 2003, he was happily working a non-wrestling role, something that he does to this very day. Not him though. I guess it really is time to call it quits.

"So I guess that's it then." Triple H said, defeated.

"It's for your own good Hunter." Dr. Yankovic said.

"All I wanted was a second chance. I guess my back's really screwed up, huh?"

"Your back? Oh, your back's fine. Perfectly healed actually."

Triple H looked up at him with a confused look on his face. "What do you mean? I thought you said I'm not fit to wrestle."

"Oh you're not." Said Dr. Yankovic. "I'm afraid that four years of being inactive has made you stagnant. If you rush going back to your wrestling career, chances are that your muscles are prepared to take that type of beating yet."

"So you're saying that if I get back into shape in time, I might be able to wrestle again?"

"Well yeah, but I don't think that's gonna be easy."

"Hardly." Said Triple H before leaving the office.

Hunter went back to his hotel room. He dialed up his phone and on the other end, Shawn Michaels picked up.

"Hello." Said Michaels lethargically.

"Shawn, it's Hunter. I got some good news." Triple H said eagerly.

"What?"

"I'm going back to wrestling."

Shawn didn't respond for a long time and when he did, there was a tone of disbelief in his voice. "You wanna do what?! Hunter, get real. You're fifty-one years old and you haven't wrestled a match in four years."

"I know, I know, just hear me out all right?" Triple H said.

"Ok, so uh, what's your plan?" Shawn asked.

"I have to get someone to train me. Someone who can get me back in shape…"

"Wait a minute. I know where this is going, and I'm NOT training you."

"Well fine then." Triple H said, a little pissed that his plan to trick Shawn into training him didn't work. "Do you know anyone who can?"

"Actually, yes. He lives down in Long Island, New York. He's kinda old school, but hey, where we come from, everything is old school." Shawn then proceeded to dictate the trainer's phone number and e-mail ad and after a while Hunter spoke up.

"Can I trust him?"

"More than you know." And with that remark, Shawn hung up. Hunter stared at the number. He remembers Killer Kowalski, his original trainer.

* * *

"C'mon kid! Put some muscle into it!" Walter Kowalski yelled. He was yelling at a big muscular blonde kid who was struggling just to perform a basic vertical suplex. The blonde kid was struggling just to breathe.

"Jesus Christ Walter! Give me a break; we've been doing this for hours." Paul said.

"All right, all right. But if you screw up again, you're getting a crash course on how to take a piledriver…the hard way." Paul looked pale. Nobody wanted to take a piledriver the hard way. But there was something about this Levesque kid that made Walter think he was going to be great someday. Pound for pound, Paul was the best among his current class. Paul was big and muscular, he had a good work ethic, talent but best of all, he had a passion for this business that reminded Walter of himself as a kid.

"Go drink some water kid. You look like you're about to faint."

"Thanks. Finally some rest."

"You know what kid?"

"What?"

"You're gonna make it in this business, I can already tell."

"You really think so?"

"Yeah, just keep this shit up and in a couple of years, you'll hit the big time." Walter said, drinking some kind of energy drink. "You're that damn good kid. You're that damn good."

* * *

.

That damn good. Ironic that in just a couple of years, Triple H would be quoting his mentor, accurately quoting his mentor, calling himself that damn good.

Hunter smiled at that memory. His birth name had been Paul Michael Levesque. Sometime within the next fifteen years or so, he had legally changed his name to Hunter Paul Levesque-Hemsley as part of a dual ownership with WWE. After reminiscing, Hunter picked up the phone again and called up the trainer Shawn had recommended. He wasn't home but he was told by his wife that the trainer would be glad to see him next week. Hunter stayed in Pittsburgh for the remainder of the weekend before heading out to Long Island.

The trainer's school was actually his basement. When Hunter got to the address, nobody was home and the sign on the door told to just head down to the basement and wait for the trainer. It looked kinda strange to Hunter as he looked around him; the basement was covered in Christmas memorabilia as well as WWE merchandises from the late '90s. It seemed as if the trainer was big fan of WWE. But if that wasn't strange enough, Hunter also saw the decorations on the trainer's desk: The man had a lot of books, but not just any book, it was children's books. Oddly familiar children's books. There were also a lot of letters coming from Make-a-Wish foundations. Apparently, the trainer was a huge hit with the terminally ill kids. But even stranger was that on the trainer's walls were two WWE Championship belts on display; one of them was a World Wrestling Federation Championship belt from the '90s and the other was a Hardcore Belt. As Hunter looked around, he accidentally stepped on a sock, a strange looking sock with a face drawn on it. Suddenly, Hunter knew who his trainer was.

"Hello there. I haven't seen you in a while." Said a familiar sounding voice.

Hunter turned around and without a shadow of a doubt; he knew who the man was. The hair now had a lot of grey strands in it. The man was still rather chubby and his beard was all over the place. It was him, red flannel shirt and all.

His trainer was Mick Foley.


	7. PWA

Triple H went down hard

When Triple H flew down to Long Island, New York to get back into ring shape, the last person he expected to meet, let alone train him, was Mick Foley.

Mick Foley is a WWE Hall of Famer. Inducted years ago, Mick had ended his professional wrestling career quietly and wrote children's books exclusively. Since he and Mick did not keep in contact, it was a huge surprise to know that Foley had opened up his own wrestling school.

"Hey Hunter, Long time no see." Mick said plainly.

"Hey Mick…so um, how are you?" Triple said, still slightly at a loss of words.

"Fine. Shawn told me about your plan. You wanna talk about it?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Said Triple H, sitting down.

Hunter told Mick all about what happened at Backlash and how he felt that he could still contribute to the industry. Mick listened attentively whilst eating an Oreo cookie. After a while, Mick spoke.

"You know Hunter, a lot has changed in the past four years, whether you realize it or not. You're gonna have your hands full when you return and let me remind you that you're not as healthy as you used to be."

Hunter sighed, showing his frustration at Mick's remark.

"Take this guy for example." Mick said pointing to a photo of him and some big, muscular Latino man.

"This man's name is Enrique Riveral. I met him while doing an autograph signing for my last book. He knew I train people, so he hired me to train him. You know what happened to him?"

"No, what?"

"Well, about a month later, he had his first practice match and he was phenomenal. After he graduated he became a star in the local Indy promotion of his hometown. After a while, he got called up by WWE."

"Isn't that a good thing? One of your students made it to the big time."

Mick raised his finger at him. "Wait a minute. Don't interrupt. He got the call and went down to one of WWE's developmental territories. One night, he was at RAW in a dark match with one of the regular talent. Apparently, that guy wasn't too happy that he was only going up against some jobroni, so he grabbed Enrique and piledrove him into the mat, but not before taking the fight to ringside."

"Holy shit, so the guy-"

"-Got piledrived into the concrete floor yes."

"What happened to him?"

"He ended up paralyzed and the wrestler who did him in was unpunished because according to the rule book, nothing he did was illegal."

"So the Mexican dude never got compensated for his injury?"

"Nope. He attempted to sue the company but he was broke and couldn't hire a lawyer. To this day, he remains at a Hospital in El Paso, completely paralyzed without hope for a cure."

"And you never tried to help him, did you?" Triple H asked accusingly.

Mick got up and turned away from Hunter. He seemed like he was deep in thought. He looked back at Hunter before turning away again. Mick stared at the photo intensely before speaking again, not taking his eyes off it.

"Many times." He said sadly. "But the locker rooms these days are impossible to control; the GMs can't do a damn thing except sign their checks. I don't know how Stephanie does it week in and week out."

He caught Hunter eye with that statement and added, "Oh, um, congratulations on winning her back…Sorry I couldn't make in time for the wedding."

"It was a private ceremony."

"So I guess you're not disappointed about me missing it then." Said Mick with a smile.

Hunter couldn't help but smile back. Mick sat down again and looked into Hunter's eyes. Hunter couldn't be sure as to what was going on in Mick's mind. Mick's smile reappeared and he leaned on his chair.

"Hunter, I know you. You don't need to retrain. You're skills are still intact. What you have is severe ring-rust. I'll tell you what, I got a friend who runs this promotion and they're gonna be in town for a couple of weeks. I'll schedule a match between you and his top guy next week."

"No, I wanna wrestle now."

"Do you think you're in proper shape?"

"No."

"Then you're not ready."

"I'll take that risk."

Mick looked amazed at Hunter's determination. He stared at him for a while before picking up his phone. Once he started talking, he left the room, leaving Hunter all alone. After a while he returned.

"Ok, I just spoke with my friend. He says your match is in one hour. He already has a show running and thanks to your decision to wrestle, has just changed his main event. Before that happens, I wanna go over some things with you." With that remark, Mick grabbed Hunter and nearly suplexed him off his shoes. For the next several minutes, Hunter practiced with Mick, going over several moves and warming up. Afterwards, the two got in Mick's car and drove to the arena where a promotion called the PWA was running a show.

Hunter went backstage with Mick. The feeling of being in a locker room again was exciting. Hunter got dressed in a small locker room and barely had five minutes before the main event was announced. To warm up, Hunter shadow-boxed and did push-ups and sit-ups and stretched some more. When the time came for him to make his entrance, he was met by Mick Foley and the promoter, ex-WWE and ex-TNA superstar Booker T. Booker looked like he had gone through hell because not only was he the promoter, he was wrestling too.

"You ready?" Booker asked.

"Yeah,"

"Go out there then…sucka."

Hunter got out and the crowd was silent as hell. It's been a while since they had seen Triple H in match and PWA was the last place they thought he'd make a comeback. Hunter's opponent was already in the ring and at 5'11 and 235 lbs was definitely at a size disadvantage. The bell rang and the two locked up. Hunter shoved the guy and he came back running, but when Hunter shoved him down two more times, the guy's facial expression changed from hostile and daring to fearful and cautious. The two grappled some more and traded punches. The match didn't last very long, but Hunter was obviously given a tough opponent to beat. At one point, Hunter was superplexed, arm-dragged thrice in a row, and was on the receiving end of a vicious DDT. Despite the hard time the guy gave Hunter, Hunter was able to hit his signature spinebuster and the Pedigree for the win.

When the ref raised his hand in victory, the crowd was at a state of disbelief. After a while, a massive cheer erupted and the fans started chanting "Triple H! Triple H!" something Hunter hadn't heard in a long, long time. When he got back to the locker room, Mick and Booker was waiting for him.

"Not bad Hunter. Not bad at all." Said Mick.

"You did all right, I guess." Said Booker.

After Booker left, Mick smiled approvingly and said, "Even though he doesn't seem to like you that much, you gotta admit, a praise from Booker T is already a lot considering he hates you. Come see me at my house tomorrow so we can begin to help you back into wrestling shape, although in my opinion, you don't really need it as much as you think."

Mick left Hunter to change. Despite what others have said, Hunter proved something that night. He proved he wasn't done yet. He was back. And he's still that damn good.


	8. Getting Ready

For the next several weeks, Triple H trained with Mick Foley. Slowly but surely Hunter was able to get back into shape. Because the PWA live event wasn't televised, news of Hunter's return has been kept to a minimum and at it's best are only considered rumors.

At the age of fifty-one, Hunter's powerhouse game plan was drastically changed into something that best suits his physical condition. Despite being 280 lbs, which is his biggest weight yet, and about 80 percent of it being pure muscle, the doctor was right when he said Hunter's body would not adapt quickly enough to handle the pain. A week after his match Hunter was still feeling some soreness that only seemed to get worse.

One day while Hunter was going over some new moves with some trainees, a certain trainee who days before, had been talking trash about Triple H, came up to him. Hunter overheard him boasting to the others that the moment he would step into the ring with Hunter, the match would be over just like that. The next day, he and Hunter had a friendly practice match; at least it was friendly to Hunter. The kid, obviously, was trying to make a name for himself. Unfortunately, Hunter was still the better man and took him out after five minutes. This time it looked as if he had payback on his mind.

"Big man, aren't you?" he said with a sneer.

"What do you mean?" Triple H asked.

"I know all about you. As a kid, I used to cheer every time Randy Orton handed you your ass. You're all washed up! Why are you still here?" The kid said loudly enough for everyone to hear.

"Besides," he continued. "Whatever it is that you're trying to do, whatever you're trying to prove, I hope it blows in your face!!"

Triple H was standing now. This kid, whatever his problems were, was trying to get a reaction out of him. Everybody else stopped what they were doing and started to stare. The kid himself looked proud and arrogant. Just like Orton.

"That little match we had a couple of days ago was a fluke. It don't mean shit around here! Go back to whatever shithole you came from, old man!" With that remark, he slapped Hunter across the face. Before he knew what happened or before he could realize what he had done, he was already bleeding on the floor, courtesy of a punch from Triple H.

To Triple H, old man was a fighting word. If that didn't already piss him off, the slap sure did the trick. Triple H stood firm and waited for the kid to get up, so they can settle this man to man when suddenly he was jumped from behind. At least three more people were holding him back. At first Triple H thought they were out to help their friend until they saw he saw the look on their faces. They were scared. They weren't attacking him, they were restraining him. They honestly thought he had snapped, and would beat the kid to death. As Triple H struggled to break free, the arrogant kid had gotten up and continued to beat on Triple H. Soon they were restraining him too and an all out brawl broke out. The brawl continued until they heard a loud whistle blow. Mick Foley had arrived and broke the fight up.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" He yelled.

"If somebody doesn't explain something to me right now, I swear to God, all of you is gonna regret it!"

Almost instantly, the kid who picked a fight with Triple H started yelling like crazy. His nose was bloody and he looked as if he was having another panic attack.

"He started it!!" He said, pointing at Hunter. "That bastard came at me and bloodied me up! All I did was try to talk to him!"

"Duke…" Mick said calmly. "Why don't you go upstairs and see if my wife can fix you a nice bag of ice, Huh? The rest of you, class dismissed. No more training for today."

Everybody started to leave, Hunter included, until Mick stopped him.

"Hunter? Let's talk for a bit."

"Listen man, whatever that guy said, don't buy it. He was lying the whole time."

"Easy Hunter, easy. That's not what I wanna talk to you about. Sit down."

"What's this about?"

"Listen, I appreciate you helping me out with these kids, but I don't think you should be here anymore."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying it's done. You're back in shape. For the past month, you've been throwing these kids around like a rag doll. You should get back to the big time."

Triple H paused for a moment. He pondered his next move. How was he supposed to make his return? Maybe Stephanie can help him out. Maybe not. He had to start somewhere, somewhere he can get noticed, that way people can offer him contracts instead of him going to them.

"Mick, I'm kinda lost here. How am I supposed to make a comeback when WWE doesn't even have me on their radar? I need to have my next match someplace where I can gather a lot of attention."

"A.J. Styles!!" Mick yelled.

"What?"

"The A.J. Styles tribute card. It's in two weeks, and there is an open invitation to any wrestler who wants to perform. It's a highly celebrated event and is sure to catch a lot of attention."

"What's wrong with Styles again?"

"A few years ago, this TNA wrestler went down in an injury not so different from yours. But the only thing is, he's paralyzed from the waist down, so every year, they hold this show to help pay for A.J.'s medical bills and to fund the research so he can finally walk again."

"I guess I dodged a bullet then."

"Yeah, kinda. So you up for it?"

"Sure, I'll do it. Two weeks right?"

"Yeah, get ready for it."

Triple H got up and packed his things. Mick walked him to the driveway and before Triple H left, they spoke some more.

"You going home?"

"Yeah. Gotta make sure the kids are all right and I gotta call Stephanie."

"Ok, take care."

"Sure thing, oh and um, Mick?"

"Yeah, Hunter?"

"Thanks."

Mick Foley didn't answer. Instead, he smiled and went back inside. It was a long drive back to Connecticut, but Hunter figured driving would be more therapeutic than flying first class. He got home the next day after driving for several hours overnight. It was 5 am when he got home. He went straight to his two daughter's respective rooms but they were still asleep. He got to his son's room only to find that he was sleeping in the lap of his babysitter, who was also asleep. The babysitter, Hunter didn't mind waking up.

"Naitch," Hunter whispered into Ric Flair's ear. "You awake?"

Instead of responding, Flair grunted something barely recognizable and Hunter saw that he was sitting on a pile of porno mags and an empty bottle of Viagra was on the floor.

"I hope my son didn't see that shit." Hunter muttered under his breath. He went to his study and phoned Stephanie's office in WWE Headquarters. He knew Stephanie couldn't be there but he left a message anyway.

"Hey Steph, so uh, how's work?" he started. "I'm gonna be traveling out to Long Island again in two weeks time to uh, meet with some old friends and, uh, watch the A.J. Styles tribute show."

"Ok Hunter," Stephanie unexpectedly replied. She just picked up the phone. "Just don't go picking any fights with the stars."

"How long have you been there?" Hunter said smiling.

"Long enough. Is Ric still there?"

"Yep. Sleeping like a baby."

"That's good. Anyways, I have to get back to work. See you soon. Love you."

"Love you too honey."

Hunter wondered as to why he didn't tell her the truth. Maybe he thought it would be best if she found out on the day itself. Maybe, just maybe, he might not be so sure about this whole thing. But whatever happens, there's no backing out now. In two weeks time he makes his official comeback. To quote Ric Flair, "He's in some deep shit right about now." Hunter shook his head. Naitch always knew what to say. Even in his sleep.


	9. The Tribute Show

Triple H went down hard

For two weeks, Triple H stayed at home preparing for his next match. His family, still being kept in the dark about his plans, was surprised to see him so focused and active in the gym instead of his usual lethargic mood. Hunter often wondered how his return would be welcomed. In the past, he's read a lot about himself on the internet where, people in this direction were praising him and in the other, condemning him. The weekend before his big match, he called Ric up to see if he could baby sit his kids again, but there was no answer. Luckily, he was able to get William Regal to baby sit. William Regal had been retired for ten years. Two years before he retired, he had the best year of his career, because at 2008 he won the King of the Ring as well as the WWE Championship. William always was an unlikely champion to Hunter, even more because he beat Randy Orton, Jeff Hardy and even Triple H himself to be champion and did it all over again to retain until John Cena usurped his throne.

Triple packed his bags and was out the door when Regal confronted him. "Just where are you going anyway?" Regal said in his usual dignified manner.

"I'm heading out to Long Island. Shawn's meeting me there and we're off to see the A.J. Styles tribute show."

"Ah yes, the poor bloke who broke his back attempting a somersault when all he managed to do was land awkwardly on his ass."

"Yeah, that guy. Well, I better go; I'm running late for my flight as it is. Thanks again for watching my kids for me William. I'll be back in a couple of days."

"Yes, yes, of course, but why the bloody hell would you need that for?" Regal said, pointing at Hunter's bag. Hunter's bag was slightly open, and revealed a portion of his wrestling boots.

"Now tell me…" Regal began with a devious smile, "Why would you need those boots? Where you're going, you won't need wrestling boots."

Triple H stopped walking and turned to face Regal. Caught already? No. Not yet. Regal can still be fooled, if only for a little while longer.

"Oh these? They're for a young wrestler I helped train with Mick Foley. You remember why I was there last month, don't you? Anyway, I won't be needing them, so I figured he could have them."

Regal, by this time, was no longer smiling. "If you don't want to tell me exactly what you're doing, then you don't have to. But don't think of me as an idiot." He turned to the door before adding, "Good luck in you're match tomorrow."

Triple H could do nothing more than sit in the taxi and think, over and over in his mind, "William Regal knows." Of course he knows. Regal was the consummate wrestler. A man's man and tough as hell, as much he could remember. Hunter got on his flight and arrived in Long Island by morning. He checked into a hotel and sat there all afternoon. About two hours before the show started, Hunter got ready. He stretched and warmed up before heading out to the arena. When he got there, he quickly slipped on a black ski mask and headed backstage. The wrestlers there shot him weird looks, many of them probably thinking he was just some jobber for the first match.

After settling himself backstage, he left the room and looked for Mick Foley. Days before, Mick e-mailed him saying he'll be watching the show backstage wearing their "planned attire". Surely enough, Hunter found a slightly chubby man wearing a similar-looking ski mask standing suspiciously in the hallway.

"There you are Mick; I've been looking all over for you."

Mick took off his mask, looking a little pissed. "Crap man, how'd you know it was me?"

"No one else would wear a black ski mask along with a red flannel."

Foley sighed. "Yeah, well whatever. Go get ready for your match."

"Any idea as to who I'm gonna be facing?"

"They posted tonight's show on that bulletin board. Oh and by the way, I signed you up as "Hugh Jass".

Hunter did a double take. "You signed me up as what?!"

"You said make it anonymous. They wouldn't take the name anonymous. So for one night only, your name is Hugh Jass."

Hunter felt like cussing under his breathe. Sounded like a rib to him. Huge ass. That's Mick all right. Hunter looked up and saw his name at the Main Event.

"Main Event: Hugh Jazz w/ Cactus Jack VS. Christian Cage w/ Rhino.

Hunter looked somewhat pleased. He was facing Christian Cage, an ex-WWE and ex-TNA wrestler. Christian wrestled for WWE from 1998 to 2005 and again in 2013 to 2015. Between that, Cage wrestled for Total Nonstop Action or TNA. Now he just works independents when he's not running that wrestling school of his in Orangeville with another WWE alumnus, Adam "Edge" Copeland. Rhino was a different story. Unlike Cage, he did not leave WWE on good terms. In fact, he was released and was disgruntled about the company ever since. He opted to remain with TNA until he retired for a little while to rest nagging injuries. Now, he works indy shows and also helps out Edge and Christian with their wrestling school occasionally.

Triple H remained quiet backstage while waiting for his match. Every now and again, he would see wrestlers he used to work with and others whom he had never seen before. He even saw A.J. Styles moving around excitedly in his wheelchair. When his match was announced, Mick came up to him wearing his Cactus Jack attire.

"Ready?" Mick asked.

"Yeah. Let's go." Triple H said getting up.

"Wait! Before we go, here." Mick said handing him a bottle.

"Why would I need that for?"

"It's for your entrance."

"Right. Thanks."

"Oh, and about you're entrance music, we couldn't find The Game so we just went with one of you're older themes."

Hunter, by this time, was no longer listening. He stared at the monitor as Christian Cage made his way to the ring and cut a promo.

"According to the promoters, I'm gonna be wrestling some unknown named Hugh Jass." Christian said mockingly.

"Are you kidding me?! Hugh Jass?! Well then, Hugh, why don't you come out here and face me like a man! I'd bet on the chances that my friend AJ can never walk again that you're too scared to face me!"

Beside Hunter, he could hear A.J. visibly annoyed by Christian's comment. "Hey! I heard that!" Hunter laughed out loud and made his entrance. His old theme of "My Time" was blasting through the speakers and on his way out, he tore off the mask, revealing his real face. Everyone in attendance was in total shock. Even Christian was sporting a bewildered look. That quickly changed when he grabbed his mic and cut his promo again.

"Triple H?!" he said with a smile on his face, "What kind of asshole would come out of retirement in a match against me?! Dude, please. Last time I checked, you were in some weird rehab place, crying for mommy because you broke your back."

Triple H just stared. Unknown to him his manager, Mick Foley, had been jumped from behind and now the assailant was pouncing on Hunter. Before he knew what happened, he found himself on the receiving end of a double team attack, courtesy of Cage and Rhino.

They tossed Hunter into the ring, where Christian began working on him sadistically. Hunter struggled to fight back, but Cage had the speed advantage. Hunter attempted to lift Christian over his head, but predictably, he fell short on his attack and Christian was able to capitalize on it with an inverted DDT. Hunter realized what his Doctor and Mick were trying to tell him. Four years of inactivity has rendered his Powerhouse style useless. Christian grabbed him and set him up for another move when Hunter did a leg sweep, taking Christian off his feet. Christian fought back, but Hunter was now brawling with him and quickly gave him a snapmare. Now utilizing a more hardcore style of wrestling, Hunter was able to save his strength for one big move and that was the spinebuster. After the move, the crowd went into a frenzy and when he turned, he was Gored by Rhino.

This gave Hunter a win by DQ, but Rhino wasn't finished and neither was Triple H. The two brawled until Christian came for the double team. Out of nowhere, Mick came out from the crowd and took the fight to Rhino, whilst Triple H pedigreed Christian. Mick finally got the Mandible Claw into Rhino, who was helpless until Hunter dispatched him with a Pedigree.

They played the "My Time" entrance theme and Triple H ascended to the top rope and did his iconic pose. The crowd went nuts and was on the verge of jumping the blockade so they can enter the ring. This was all too good for Hunter, that he didn't notice Mick repeatedly telling him to leave the ring. The two then left through the crowd, choosing to get mugged by numerous fans rather than go back to the locker room. Triple H was officially back into wrestling.


	10. RAW Return part 1

Triple H went down hard

Triple H made his entrance. The crowd went absolutely wild. He marched down to the ring and spat water into the air. He ascended to the top rope and did his iconic pose. The ring announcer announced his name and the crowd went wild again. This was it. This was home. A familiar looking theme song started to play, "Burn in my Light". It was Randy Orton. Triple H confronted the evil bastard and fought as hard as he could, but Orton was too much. Suddenly the pain came back, and he was in hell. The crowd disappeared and everything went dark. The last thing he heard was Randy Orton's laughter.

Hunter woke with a start. It was a dream. A bad one. He was back in his house in Connecticut. He examined his body, only to find several bruises. It was only a few hours ago that he wrestled Christian Cage at the A.J. Styles tribute show. As he got out of bed, he winced at the pain in his ribs, where Rhino had gored him. He dragged himself out of bed and went downstairs. To his surprise, Stephanie was home that night. He was dressed in a yellow bath robe and was drinking some coffee. She looked up at Hunter with a look that could only mean trouble.

"Rough night, honey?" Stephanie asked somewhat devilishly.

"What do you know? Who told you?" Triple H asked.

"Just after you left, Mr. Regal called me at my office. Besides, even if he didn't, I still would've found out."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, the rumors are true after all. Every wrestling organization in the world knows that you're out of retirement. You must be real happy now that you're the hottest free agent in the world."

"So I guess this means you're gonna try and convince me to stop all this…"

"On the contrary," Stephanie said, handing Hunter a thick contract, "My boss, your father-in-law, wanted me to give you this. It's a WWE contract. Haven't seen one in years, have you?"

Hunter quickly looked over the contract. Everything seems to be in order. Hunter scanned the pages attentively, looking over every possible loophole in it, just in case there might be some sort of catch. He found nothing. It was a genuine WWE contract. Except it was missing something, something vital.

"Hang on a minute," Hunter said, "There's nothing in this contract that states as to which brand I'm gonna wrestle for. What gives?"

"That is something different." Stephanie said, "We thought it would be best if you chose the brand."

"You want me to choose my brand?!" Hunter said incredulously.

"Yes. The board of directors feels that you are a proven commodity and you are an asset of any brand you wrestle for, and they feel that you are trustworthy enough."

"I'm trustworthy?! Please, when was the last time that I was considered by any authority figure as trustworthy?"

"Well, actually they have an ulterior motive. They hope that you'll choose either Smackdown or ECW because they weren't happy about what happened with Randy Orton at Backlash."

Triple H couldn't help but smile. "Don't worry, it's not about Orton. I swear."

"Then what is it about? Why would you make a huge decision like this and keep it from your family?"

"It was just an itch, that's all. And I wanted to scratch it."

"What happens when the itch disappears?"

Hunter couldn't answer that. All he could do was look at Stephanie in the eye and after sometime, he made his way towards the door and stopped. He thought about the question. What would he do?

"I don't know. All I know is, is that time is against me and so is my body. It will be harder this time around and the end could be very, very near." Hunter said without turning. Before leaving the room entirely, he added; "If I go out, it's gonna be on a frickin' blaze of glory.

Triple H looked out the window from his seat. The plane was about to land, he could already tell. Before arriving at Birmingham, Alabama for WWE Raw, Hunter thought he'd visualize as to what would happen to him when he arrives at a RAW arena for the first time in years. When the plane landed, Hunter went straight to the arena. It was around noon and he was one of the first people to arrive backstage. Hunter was there simply to scout the location, to see if he would be going back to RAW or not. He was a free agent again, and the general managers (excluding Stephanie) were practically fighting over him. But he could visit Smackdown and ECW afterwards. Right now, it was RAW.

An hour before RAW officially began, they had dark matches. Hunter sat quietly backstage with the RAW announce team, Batista and Todd Grisham, before a familiar sounding voice was heard.

"Hey, look it's Triple H! Kenny! Come look!" Kyle Robins yelled in his distinct Scottish accent.

Triple H turned to see Kenny and Kyle Robins, the brothers he had met at Backlash and the current DX members. The two no longer looked shy and nervous and were actually rather energetic. They also looked like they had put on some more muscle mass too. Triple H turned to them and smiled back. It was a good thing that he knew other people from RAW other than Batista and Grisham.

He spent the night with the rest of DX. DX 2.0 had a huge six-man tag team match were Jason Teague along with the Robins would take on a Texas-based faction. The faction was named Layfield Inc., named after it's founder John Bradshaw Layfield. John Bradshaw Layfield or JBL is now retired and has been for quite some time, even before Triple H. Now he spends his time as a manager for Layfield Inc. The members of Layfield Inc. were Bam Neely, Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch, three veterans of WWE, whilst the last two members were two other guys who were apparently new in the WWE. The match ended with DX 2.0 winning. The gang celebrated their win backstage and Triple H couldn't be happier. Layfield Inc. just happened to pass by the locker room backstage allowing Triple H and JBL to exchange glances.

Just before the show went off the air, the GM, Shane McMahon stopped by to tell Hunter that the last few minutes of the show would be dedicated to him, saying that he should get the feel of being in front of a live crowd back into him. DX decided to accompany Hunter to the ring, seeing as they had already made him an honorary member regardless of which brand he chooses. Suddenly, Triple H's old theme "My Time" began to play. This was it. It truly is Triple H's time.


	11. RAW Return part 2

Triple H went down hard

"One, Two, Is this on?"

"Ha, yo Jimmy hit me with that Triple H"

"Yeah, you let the music keep playing Mr. Dumb Shit"

The lyrics of Triple H's theme music, "My Time", echoed throughout the arena as Triple H and DX 2.0 made their way down the entrance ramp. The announcer in the ring was Batista, and no one else had a smile bigger than him.

"Ladies and Gentleman, I present to you the fourteen-time world champion, Triple H!" Batista said as Triple H made his way down to the ring. Dave sported a huge smile on his face as the rest of the people in the arena chanted Hunter's name.

Triple H made his entrance into the ring finally and hugged Batista firmly. Batista gave him the mic and left the ring. Pretty soon, his theme music began to die down and DX 2.0 left the ring. Hunter was alone in the ring for the first time in years. He surveyed his surroundings and saw Triple H signs all over the arena. The announce team was silent and DX was simply smiling at ringside. The fans were chanting "Thank You" all over the arena, and Hunter could swear that he felt tears in his eyes. As he pressed the mic against his lips, the audience went wild and Hunter simply had to stop. He smiled and took a deep breath.

"Well I'll be damned." He said. "I never thought this would ever happen again." The fans fell silent. The crowd's ears were all on him now. As it should be.

"You know, a few years ago, I was sitting in a hospital bed thinking I would never ever be back in a WWE ring again. I've had quad injuries and back injuries before, but none of it was worse than what I had to endure for the past four years. I've done a lot of things in my career, I can go on and on about who I've beaten, but I'm proud to say that I've beaten the odds just one more time."

Triple H stopped himself for a moment. He stared at DX. The new DX. He stared at Batista, the man whom he discovered, the same man who was now serving as RAW's color commentator.

"Then a few weeks ago, I had the weirdest urge to come back, for unknown reasons. Maybe I thought that I could do more for the sport that made me a star. Maybe I thought there was something lacking in my legacy." He continued.

"No, I was wrong. Being here today with Dave Batista and DX at ringside reminded me that my legacy is intact. I guess you could say that whatever that itch was, I just had to scratch it." Triple H said, feeling genuinely touched by the live crowd's show of attention.

"Now, as it partakes to which show I would be wrestling on, I have to say that I always felt at home at RAW." Triple H said to the delight of the thousands of fans in attendance.

"But, I was told by a certain somebody that I could also jump ship to Smackdown or ECW." He said, which was met by boos.

"I guess we'll have to find out and see for ourselves next week when I finalize my decision-" Hunter said when suddenly he was interrupted by an eerie nursery-rhyme like voice followed by a Heavy Metal entrance song. The fans' boos were deafening and even DX looked pissed. A man wearing a brown trench coat made his entrance along with other people who was dressed like drug addicts. The man was tall with long, wavy blond hair. He seemed to be the biggest out of his gang and for some reason he reminded Hunter of a certain ECW Original named Raven.

The group remained in the entrance ramp, standing there silently even after their entrance theme stopped playing. DX entered the ring and surrounded Hunter. Hunter turned to one of the Robins and asked who the men are.

"You'll know soon enough." Kyle said, looking focused. Every member of DX looked as if they were expecting an attack.

Without saying a word, the tall blond man and his cronies entered the ring and stared straight into Triple H's eyes. From underneath his coat he unveiled a microphone with an ECW logo. The man was an ECW extremist.

"So the rumors are true." The blond man said in a rather husky voice. "Triple H stalks the wrestling world again." He continued to stare into Triple H's face. There was a certain hostility in his eyes which Triple H could see, something Triple H was definitely familiar with.

"The name is Hush." The blond man said proudly. "The land of Extreme is under a state of war. Soon ECW will be cleansed and it will be resurrected in my image. What I came hear for is this, Triple H. If you ever think about coming to ECW, I gotta know, are you with me or against me?"

"Well that depends fat boy," Triple H shot back. "Do you plan on ending my career to make a name for yourself once I'm there or are you gonna wait until it best suits you and take advantage of me?"

"You speak of the Legend Killer Randy Orton," Hush said. "I don't think you'll have to worry about a similar situation in my brand. Orton didn't finish the job. I will! Besides, Orton knows better than to go to ECW, he's learned his lesson from our previous encounter."

Triple H couldn't help but wonder if Hush was being truthful. If he was good enough in the ring that even Orton avoids him, then there's no question about it, he will end Triple H's career if ever they step into the ring. But Triple H wasn't going to back down that easily.

"Ok, fair enough. Just one question though: Who are these dipshits standing behind you, and how do I know they're not the one's Orton is afraid of and not you?"

"Ouch," Hush said sarcastically, "You should've learned to shut your mouth by now, especially after what you've experienced. But if you want another experience, why not stop by at ECW tomorrow night? I'm sure some of the boys would be glad to have you on the show."

Hush stared into the eyes of the other DX members. He smiled and turned to his own group. Many of them were whispering into his ear, practically begging him to start a fight. DX probably expected that too, seeing as most of them were now advancing. Before anything happened, Hush gestured to his men and they left the ring. But he wasn't done with Triple H just yet.

"Triple H, if you show up tomorrow, you'd better do it alone, understood? Because if you think DX is going to help you survive in the Land of Extreme then you're dead wrong. I'll be expecting you!" Hush said before moving towards the entrance ramp. Triple H just stared. The challenge has been issued. All he has to do is accept. The only thing in his mind was: "I guess I'm going to ECW tomorrow."


	12. An Extreme Welcome

The hallway was filled with people. From backstage crew to the superstars themselves, the hallway was packed, as usual. They went about their usual routines until one by one; they all went silent and stared at the man who just arrived. The smiles on their faces slowly faded and some turned into frowns while other had unclear expressions on their faces. A large man slowly made his way down the aisle, apparently ignoring the somewhat hostile stares he was getting. But the man was already used to getting such cold greetings. He looked up and saw superstars and backstage workers alike looking at him as if he was some kind of weird creature, whispering to each other as he passed. Fortunately, the awkward walk was over as the large man approached a private dressing room and locked himself in.

Triple H dropped his bags on the floor and sighed. He was in ECW all right. He was like a new kid at school, the guy nobody wanted anything to do with. But what can he expect? He was in the Land Of Extreme now, a place where anarchy rules and authority is nearly unheard of. Funny, it seems that the rest of World Wrestling Entertainment is starting to be that way.

Hunter sank into his chair and picked up his cell phone, which had been ringing for sometime now. The caller was Jason Teague.

"Hey, everything ok there?" Hunter asked.

"Sure, how're things at your end? Anybody give you any trouble?" Jason asked over the phone.

"Other than a few odd stares, I'm fine. No need to come bursting in just yet."

"Ok, you're the boss. We're still looking for our seats so there won't be any back-up for you until later."

"Ok, I gotta go anyway; I'll talk to you later." Hunter said, quickly noticing his locked door opening. A rather chubby man had entered. It was the GM of ECW, Jonathan Coachman. He came with an ECW contract at hand and sat next to Hunter.

"You know, Hunter it's been a long while since we've seen you around here."

"What do you want, Coach?"

"Who me? Nothing, nothing at all. I just wanted to make sure that you were comfortable with everything here, and to tell you how much I appreciate you stopping by."

"Then what's that doing in your hand?" Hunter nodded towards the contract.

"Oh, this…Well I just figured that if you'd like, we can sign you to the roster now if you're interested. I guarantee that this is the best deal you'll get out of the three brands."

"Yeah, well I'll make that decision later and if you don't mind I'd like to be alone."

"Sure thing Hunter. Just consider my offer. You won't regret it." Coach said, getting up and heading towards the door. Hunter stared at the closed door for a while and then he got up and began pacing. He turned on the TV just as the program was starting. ECW, like both RAW and Smackdown are now shown live and are no longer taped. This was to separate ECW and Smackdown from each other and to get rid of the alliance forged by the previous GMs, Armando Estrada and Vickie Guerrero. Now ECW was on it's own again. Hunter watched the two hour program non stop and constantly saw vignettes advertising his appearance at the final segment of the show. Every now and then he'd peer out of his door and saw a lot of superstars come and go, a lot of them wearing grunge-type outfits which seems to indicate them being a part of Hush's gang. A few minutes before the segment began the cameras stopped rolling for the commercial break. Hunter left his dressing room and waited at the Gorilla Position, the huge space just before the curtains which leads to the arena itself. There was a huge monitor there which taped the entire show. Hush and his cronies were already in the ring.

Hush paced around the ring with the microphone at hand. He looked straight into the crowd, which was booing him like hell and even throwing some garbage at the ring. Hush didn't look as confident as the night before. He looked solemn and serious.

"Triple H." Hush began to speak, "Triple H, I know you're backstage, everyone's been talking about you. I know how hard it is to come out into an arena where everyone wants a piece of you, but --"

Hush had to stop. The crowd was being merciless again with their jeers and boos drowning his voice down. Hush looked a bit distracted, but quickly regained his composure.

"As I was saying, Triple H, the sooner you get your ass out here the better. See, you're on hostile ground. Enemy territory. This ain't RAW, and this ain't Smackdown. You'd better come out now before the Extreme Mafia goes back there and drags you out!" Hush said, pointing to the people standing behind him.

It didn't take long for Hunter to come out, but not without back up in the form of his trusty sledgehammer. The crowd for the first time since the segment began started to cheer and chant his name. Hunter got into the ring, and the members of the Extreme Mafia dispersed and left the ring, leaving him alone with Hush. The two stared at each other eye to eye. Hunter could see Hush glancing at the sledgehammer every now and then. There was surprise and fear in his eyes, but that quickly faded away.

"Welcome," Hush said softly, "Welcome, Triple H, to Extreme Championship Wrestling."

Hush paced around the ring with a devious smile on his face.

"Found the place ok? You didn't get lost did you?"

Hunter remained silent and motionless. Hush looked uneasy, at least to Hunter. Every now and then, he'd glance at the sledgehammer and then back at Hunter.

"Ok, Triple H, why don't you put that little toy hammer away, you're not spoiling for a fight are you?"

With that statement, Hunter went down and the rest of Hush's men entered the ring. It was a damn set up. Hunter had been jumped from behind. Hunter couldn't even fight back. Everyone was kicking him and stomping his head into the ground. Somebody grabbed him from behind and held his arms while the rest took turns punching him and kicking his ribs. Hunter was sure he could feel some of his ribs breaking. His vision was blurred and blood was flowing from his mouth and nose. Someone grabbed his face and held it up, facing Hush.

"You're not very smart are you? You had a chance to walk away four years ago, and now you come back and you think you're gonna steal my spot light? Nuh Uh, I don't think so. So now I'm gonna finish it once and for all."

Hush picked up Triple H's fallen sledgehammer and held it in the air. Triple H could see the end coming until someone jumped Hush from behind. It was one of the Robins, Kyle. Kenny, Jason and the rest of DX followed and a huge brawl ensued. Apparently, DX was hiding in plain sight, as members of the audience. They had anticipated the attack. Before the show, Jason had assured Triple H that he would be safe. Hunter didn't regret trusting him now.

In the ensuing brawl, Hunter notice that the mastermind behind the attack, Hush, was getting away. Grabbing his sledgehammer, Hunter ran after him towards the backstage area. Hunter ran past all the other superstars, hammering away at them if necessary, since some of them attempted to stop him. It didn't matter to him that he was causing as much trouble backstage as the brawl in the ring. He ran after Hush until they arrived at a dark basement. Hunter calmed himself and temporarily kept his loud breathing to a minimum. He could hear footsteps. He turned and there was nobody there. He kept turning almost paranoid but there was nobody there. This time the sound was getting louder. The sound was coming from behind him. He turned but was quickly clocked by a hard chair shot to the head. Triple H stubbornly got up but was hit on the head again. He was on all fours and reached for his sledgehammer, but the dark figure kicked it away from him. He looked up and was shocked to see the assailant. With his blurred vision, he couldn't be sure. He just stared and only one word came out of his mouth.

"Orton?!"

"Maybe. You'll find out."

Whether it was really Randy Orton or not, Triple H never found out for sure. The last thing he felt was a third and extremely painful chair shot. Before he completely blacked out, He managed to look up and saw the Orton-look alike being approached by a larger man. Hush.

"Thanks, maybe you're not as useless as I thought…Legend Killer."

That was the last thing Hunter saw and heard before losing consciousness completely.


	13. Friday Night Smackdown!

The trip to New York was a long one. Three days prior, Hunter received one of the toughest beatings of his life, courtesy of Hush and apparently Randy Orton. Hunter arrived at the famed Madison Square Garden at around 2 pm and was one of the first ones there. He quickly found the locker room where he relaxed for a bit. He let his thoughts drift to the reactions he had received thus far. From the RAW superstars, the reaction was mixed at best. Some were happy at his return while others were noticeably indifferent. Not exactly a happy homecoming, but they weren't hostile either. ECW was another story. From the get-go, every person on that brand hated his guts. If it wasn't for DX, he'd probably be in the hospital right now, his official return delayed even more. And then there was Smackdown, the wild card. As he sat alone in the locker room, he couldn't help but think back to a time when things were so much brighter.

As he sat there reminiscing, he didn't notice the locker room door open.

"Triple H? That you?" A familiar sounding voice said. Triple H looked up and saw John Cena staring back at him.

John Cena. The name says it all. Eight World Titles to his name, Cena has been the biggest star of the past ten years, but three years without that World Title around his waist has loosened his grip. Even though he has fallen out of title contention, superstars from RAW, Smackdown and ECW still fear his name. For the past two years, Cena heavily involved himself with WWE Films, wrestling mostly on Pay-Per-Views and occasionally on TV. Cena is a bona-fide multimedia star and is the biggest wrestler turned action star since The Rock. But now that filming is over, Cena is back on the Smackdown brand again.

"Dude, what are you doing here all by yourself?" Cena asked.

"Nothing, just relaxing before the show starts." Hunter replied.

"The show doesn't start for another seven hours."

"Oh, right…I knew that…" Hunter said, a little embarrassed.

"But seriously man, what's up?"

"I'm just nervous about the show that's all."

"After what happened to you last Tuesday night, I'm not surprised."

"Oh, so you saw that too?"

"Dude, everyone saw it."

Hunter leaned against the locker. If everyone saw what happened on ECW, maybe they can clarify the identity of his mysterious assailant, whether it was really Randy Orton or not.

"So I guess you saw me tear up the locker room too huh?" Triple H said.

"Nope. The cameras stopped following you after you went backstage. Nobody saw that." Cena said.

"Oh. I see." Hunter said, frustrated. Cena could see it too.

"What's wrong? Everything alright?" Cena asked.

"I just thought that maybe…If you did see…Maybe you would've been able to confirm something…"

"Like what?"

"Where's Randy Orton these days?"

"Randy?" Cena said, sounding surprised, "He's been in Japan for weeks, for promotional purposes."

Triple H didn't reply. So it wasn't Randy Orton who helped Hush beat him down just three nights ago. But still, if it wasn't Orton, then who was it? Was it just mind games played by Hush? Or an imposter hired by Orton himself? Strangely, Triple H thought that last one was way too far-fetched. Not even Orton was as obsessed, to go as far as to hire an identical hired gun. But Triple H on the other hand was…was a different story. Now that he thought about it, what was the real reason that he came back? To complete his legacy? Or to get revenge?

He turned to John Cena. Cena himself didn't look too good. He had aged terribly. On his forehead were scars, badges of honor if you will, and a testament to what Cena had to go through to get to the top. Yet, even as they sat there, it seemed as if Cena was the one with the most burdens to bear. The most troubled.

"So what's up with you? You don't look too hot either." Triple H finally said.

Cena looked at him with a blank expression on his face.

"Me? Nothing much…Just have a lot on my mind." Cena replied.

"Oh? Like what?" Hunter pressed on.

"Retirement." Cena then replied without any hesitation.

"Are you kidding me? Here I am, in my fifties, trying to make a comeback and you're thinking about hanging up the boots for good?" Hunter said, incredulously.

"Things have changed around here man. I've always wondered if I should've left earlier…"

"You know, lately, I've been getting that a lot. I know nothing remains constant, but come on! How bad could things be?"

Cena got up. He turned towards the door, but before leaving he replied:

"You have no idea."

Cena's statement left something for Hunter to ponder. John Cena had always been a hardworking and unfailingly cheerful person. A company man, someone you can rely on. He always had a great passion for the business. But it seemed as if that person is long gone. The John Cena he had just spoken to was undeniably bitter. What had happened to wrestling? Whatever it was, I it was definitely bad enough to leave John Cena angry and disgruntled.

After a couple of hours, the superstars began to appear, and for most of the time they were actually nice and respectful to Hunter. He was also relieved to hear that there were no feuding stables on Smackdown, all though there were a lot of tag teams. Smackdown probably had the most dominant tag team division in all of WWE at this point. Like RAW and ECW, Hunter's appearance was greatly hyped and anticipated. He appeared towards the end of the show much to the delight of the fans. Hunter made a short speech saying how he will make his decision next week on RAW and will announce as to where he will wrestle. He graciously thanked the fans for their kindness and went backstage after Smackdown went off the air. Backstage, his appearance was met with applause and some of the superstars even went over to him and asked for advice, autographs and mostly, just to talk to him.

As Hunter drove all the way back to the hotel, he knew Smackdown was the brand for him. Out of all the brands, it was the least chaotic and the least hostile. Finally, at long last, he had found a home. The game was on for Friday nights.


	14. The Official Return

Saturday Night Main Event. It was a legendary wrestling show that showcased many of the WWE's top talents in the 1980's. After being brought back in 2006, the program has made sporadic appearances every year. This edition of Saturday Night Main Event was special, that Triple H would be making his big decision as to which brand he'll work for. The show sold out and was one of the most heavily hyped shows in a while. Throughout the show, segments that promoted Triple H aired and for most of the time, the GMs really made it look like they were even fighting over him.

Triple H took a deep breath as he made his way backstage. His entourage was DX 2.0 and they were all as nervous on the outside as he was on the inside. They passed by some ECW superstars and received hostile looks. They saw JBL talking with some of the senior producers of RAW, such as Chavo Guerrero and Dean Malenko, and as they passed by, they were met with unclear expressions on their faces. Even the Smackdown superstars looked determined. The atmosphere in the arena seemed to indicate that the show that Hunter chooses would benefit the most and it seems fighting over him wasn't limited to the GMs.

Hunter made his entrance much to the delight of the fans. Every announcer, from Batista and Todd Grisham in RAW to Mr. Kennedy and Michael Cole in Smackdown hyped his return. Even ECW announcers, Rob Van Dam and Josh Matthews hyped Hunter's comeback. In the ring was Shane McMahon the RAW GM, Jonathan Coachman the ECW GM and someone representing Smackdown that certainly wasn't Stephanie McMahon-Hemsley, the Smackdown GM. In her place was a skinny balding man with a sharp suit on. As Hunter and DX entered the ring, the unknown representative was the first to approach him and shake his hand.

"Welcome. I'm Hal Cyrus, the assistant General Manager of Smackdown."

"Where's Stephanie?" Hunter asked.

"Oh, she's in Stamford, Connecticut. She's in a meeting with the Board of Directors."

Shane and Coachman approached Hunter and shook his hand respectively and handed him a mic. In the ring was a table with three contracts. One was for RAW, another was for Smackdown and the last one was for ECW.

"Well people," Shane began, "The single biggest free agent in WWE history is about to make his decision. Now, Triple H, I hope you make the right decision."

"Oh, don't worry about a thing," Hal cut in, "He will, won't you Hunter? May I call you Hunter?"

"Gentlemen, please calm down." The Coach said, "If there's a brand that can handle Triple H and take his career to places it has never seen before, it's definitely ECW."

"Well let me remind you then, that my first night there, your men beat the crap out of me and left me for dead backstage." Triple H said.

Coach looked a bit embarrassed as the other GMs laughed at the statement.

"I don't think so," Hunter said, swiping the ECW contract from the table.

The other GMs looked pleased and nervously watched as Triple H continued pacing around the ring and examined the RAW and Smackdown contracts. Triple H made eye contact with each of them. He knew Shane McMahon. He wasn't as cold and heartless as his father, but he was a McMahon, and McMahons are deceptive and cunning people. He should know, he's been involved with them for years, hell, he even married one. Hal Cyrus, the assistant GM of Smackdown was the wild card of them all. Hunter knew absolutely nothing about him, since Stephanie didn't like to discuss work-related things at home. But something told him that there was more to Hal than meets the eye.

"Well, Hunter what's it gonna be?" Shane asked.

Hunter didn't reply, but he picked up the RAW contract instead. He could've sworn that he immediately saw Shane's face lit up with happiness, only for it to turn into disappointment when Hunter tossed the RAW contract to the ground and signed the Smackdown contract. The fans cheered, even DX 2.0, even though this meant that they would be separated from their mentor since they were all RAW superstars. Shane and Coach left the ring and Hal began shaking Hunter's hand profusely. All of a sudden, a familiar entrance theme hit the arena. Hunter turned to see Hush and his allies, coming down the ramp armed with steel chairs and baseball bats and other weapons. Immediately, DX ran after them and a huge brawl erupted at the walkway. But that wasn't all. By the time the brawl had taken place, Hunter was jumped from behind. He got a good look at his attacker and saw that it was the Randy Orton look-alike. But now that he had seen the face clearly, it became apparent that it wasn't Orton at all. The man was far younger, although they looked nearly alike. In a fair fight, he didn't have Orton's skills either. They brawled for a while until Triple H was able to toss him out of the ring.

The Orton imposter ran towards Hush and his allies as they continued to fight DX. Despite overwhelming odds and the lack of weapons, DX was holding it's own against Hush and they slowly retreated up the ramp. Hush looked disappointed at his crew, but he was far from humbled.

"Triple H!" He yelled, "Just because you're now on Smackdown, it doesn't mean that we're done with you, not by a long shot."

Hush pulled the Orton imposter towards him and began to show him off to the crowd.

"This is the man that beat Triple H within an inch of his life last Tuesday night at ECW." Hush said.

"—And, he'll be the one to reintroduce you to a WWE ring next week on your own turf; Smackdown!" Hush yelled.

"Hunter, meet Milton Derek. He looks familiar doesn't he? Now that I think about it, he does bear a…uncanny resemblance to someone. But I wonder who?"

Hush let out a laugh before turning around, followed by his gang. The stage was finally set. Next Friday, he has his first WWE match in four years.

Triple H prepared himself all week for his match. He watched RAW and ECW on Monday and Tuesday nights respectively, hoping to scout his opponent in time. As it turns out, Hush's gang made appearances on both shows too, the first show they spent provoking DX and siding with their rivals, the Texan Mafia that's being managed by JBL. On ECW, they had Milton face some indy wrestlers as 'warm up' for Triple H. On both shows, they didn't fail to slander him.

By Friday night, the main event was Triple H vs. Milton Derek. Hunter stood by himself backstage, concentrating. Every now and then, people would come up to him and wish him luck. He'd smile and say thanks but deep down he knew he didn't need it. He was ready for this. When the main event took place, Hunter's entrance was met with a monstrous applause. The ring was already filled with garbage, due to the fact that the fans, who were pro-HHH all the way, had taken the liberty of throwing them at Milton as he made his entrance.

The match didn't last more than six minutes. Hunter went on the offensive from the start and was dominating all the way. That's not to say that Milton didn't get his share of offense either. But nothing was stopping Triple H, not now, not ever. In six minutes, Hunter had gotten the win after a pedigree. Hunter couldn't celebrate long though. After the match concluded, Hush and the rest of his gang made their way to the ring. Hunter, still feeding off the adrenaline, pulled his sledgehammer from under the ring and beckoned them to start a fight. Just before anything happened, a familiar entrance then started to play. Stephanie's theme.

"Listen boys," Stephanie addressed to Hush's gang, "As much as I know you want to beat the hell out of my husband, I'm afraid you're going to have to wait."

"Oh, and you're going to have to be a little more patient too Hunter." Stephanie added, after seeing Triple H's face.

"Because you see, this isn't RAW. This sure isn't ECW either. It's Smackdown and I'm in charge around here. But don't worry; you'll still get a chance to fight. Three weeks from now is 'One Night Stand' the one night where WWE goes to the extreme, and I wanna see the two of you settle things in a falls count anywhere match."

The fans erupted in cheers as Stephanie left the stage. Hunter and Hush just stared at each other, too shocked to say anything. After a while, Hunter began to smile and began to crotch chop Hush and his allies as his theme music started to play.

"Mark it down! WWE One Night Stand, you and me. Falls count anywhere!" Hunter yelled.

Hush looked as if he'd seen a ghost.

* * *

hey, christian orton here. I'm just here to advertise my latest fanfic. It's called "Carlito and Santino go to 'RoidsWorld' ". Check it out and give reviews! it's my first comedy fanfic, so take it easy on me.


	15. Haunted Dreams

Triple H's first wrestling match in four years gave WWE Smackdown it's highest ratings in five years. Virtually everyone in the wrestling world was taken in by his star power, and WWE was good to use that to their advantage. As soon as it was announced, Triple H's Falls Count Anywhere match against Hush was on the cover of every wrestling magazine. The hype was unbelievable. Triple H, however, was still haunted in his dreams.

The night after Smackdown, Hunter dreamt that he was on a wheelchair. Everyone's face was looking at him and laughing. From Randy Orton to Hush, even John Cena had a somewhat disappointed face.

"You're an embarrassment, man. Retire with some dignity, why don't you?" Cena said.

Hunter woke up and couldn't go back to sleep. During the next Smackdown show, Hunter was not booked for any match. Instead, he taped a promo aimed at Hush. To discredit him, of course, even though Hunter wasn't really sure he wanted to do this. Verbal taunting was more of Hush's style, and to a larger extent, Randy Orton's. He watched RAW the next week and saw DX face off against JBL's faction and lose. The next night, Hush parodied Hunter's supposed frailness by having an imposter mock him on TV before they proceeded to beat him up. Despite not wrestling on TV, Hunter made sure to attend and wrestle at all the house shows available until the PPV came. Although everyone was praising him, deep down Hunter still had some issue to work out.

The week before WWE One Night Stand was a historical contract signing at ECW. Both Triple H and Hush would be made to sign contracts in order to make sure that no one would back out of their Falls Count Anywhere match at the PPV.

"Alright gentlemen, you know what to do." The Coach said.

"Hush would go over the contract and sign it first, and then Hunter would do the same."

Coachman looked around at the two men in the ring. Both looked focused and didn't take their eyes off one another. The tense situation made him uneasy.

"Are we clear?" Coach asked.

Neither Hunter nor Hush replied. Both seemed to just nod and Coach took that as a yes. He presented both men with a single, thick contract to sign. Hush looked at it, occasionally glancing at Hunter as he did, before signing. Hunter did the same thing, and the Coach let out a sigh of relief. At last, one segment involving Hunter and Hush without everything turning ugly.

"Excellent gentlemen, now, if you'd just stand up and shake hands, we can make the deal official," Coach suggested.

Both men stood up in unison, something that scared Coachman. Both just stared at each other, standing motionless as if they were reading each other's mind. Coach offered his mic to Hunter, but Hunter didn't act on it. Coach offered it to Hush instead, who accepted. The crowd was silent tonight, as they anxiously anticipated the actions of these two men in the ring. Hush cleared his throat, but the crowd immediately booed him. In fact, the reaction he was getting was so strong; he could barely talk at all. With all the noise in the arena, Hush decided to play it safe tonight and extended his hand at Hunter. Hunter looked shocked. Hush was standing in front of him, extending his hand and smiling; although it was obviously a fake smile. Hunter extended his own hand, but not to shake Hush's hand, but rather to grab the microphone from his hand.

When Triple H took Hush's mic, the fans exploded in applause. Hush looked a bit embarrassed, but didn't lower his hand. Triple H chuckled under his breath, enjoying the humiliation that Hush was experiencing.

"You like that, don't you?" Triple H said to the crowd.

The crowd chanted his name in approval.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Triple H demanded, "I'm not gonna shake your hand!"

Hush looked angry, but didn't respond. Triple H had finally gotten to him. Good.

"Let me tell you a story kid. Some twenty years ago, when you were busy shitting your diapers, I was on top of the world. At WrestleMania 2000, I beat The Rock, Big Show and Mick Foley to retain what was then my third World Title reign. Fast forward to 2008, I had beaten Randy Orton to win my 12th World Title reign. Since that time, I had been on the top and I probably would still be at the top, were it not for that little prick. I've beaten men that are better and worse than you, I put myself through hell to get the job done, but it's ok…Their screams alone were worth it."

Triple H then noticed something. The crowd was longer cheering, but instead was silent all over again. Hush looked like he was listening to a disturbed person. Even Coach looked creeped out. That was fine. It was fear. Fear of him. He had put the fear of Triple H into their hearts. Deep down, he loved it.

"Don't look so surprised Coach," Hunter said, "You've gotten on my bad side before, you know what I'm like."

"Hush, kid, listen to me. You won't be facing another jobroni this Sunday at One Night Stand. You'll be facing me, and I'm your biggest nightmare. I want you to remember my hand at your throat. I want you to remember the man who beat you."

Triple H looked around at the kemper Arena in Kansas City, the arena they were in. The same arena where Owen Hart died in twenty-one years ago. It reminded him so much of the original ECW, the one made by Paul Heyman, not the one made by Vince McMahon. It's amazing how it eventually returned to it's hardcore roots, but to Triple H, it was just another challenge.

"ECW huh? I wonder why you chose to wrestle here. This place is a dump. A breeding ground for rodents. Like you. Get ready kid. I'm about to initiate you come Sunday."

"Got any kids Hunter?" Hush said, finally getting his own microphone.

"Shut up about that!" Triple H shot back.

"Just asking Hunter, I love kids. But I wonder If yours will be able to recognize you this Sunday?"

"What are you saying?"

"You like to talk a lot of trash, but I'm walking away the winner at One Night Stand. And I'm going to disfigure you so bad, your kids aren't even gonna recognize their daddy anymore…In fact, why wait?"

Suddenly, Hush sprang at Hunter. Grabbing a chair nearby, Hush swung it wildly at Hunter. Triple H was expecting this though. He studied Hush's movements. It was wild but predictable. He was more of a brawler than an actual wrestler. Hunter evaded his attacks and pulled out the sledgehammer he was hiding underneath the table. Hunter swung it against Hush's chair, denting it severely. This was all it took to get Hush out of the ring and began calling for reinforcements. No one came to his aid.

"There's no use in doing that." Coach said, "They are banned from ringside."

"What?!" Hush yelled in disbelief.

"I, uh, had to work out a deal to get Triple h to come to ECW tonight and one of the stipulations was to ban your teammates from ringside." Coach replied.

"That's right, no more friends, no more allies. Just you and me, just like this Sunday." Triple H taunted.

Hush turned pale. Triple H smiled. This was the last stop before One Night Stand. He had to make the most of it. He was given the rest of the week off, following the incident on ECW. Hunter would be haunted by his dreams for the rest of the week. Haunted by the surprising bravado he showed at ECW. By his past. That, he knew, was worth it.


	16. One Night Stand

One Night Stand was officially sold out. The crowd in Phoenix, Arizona was wild and electrified. The crowd had just seen one hour of intense wrestling action, but up next was the match everyone had been waiting for; the Falls Count Anywhere match between "The King of Kings" Triple H and the self-proclaimed "Demon King of Hardcore", Hush.

Before their match, a video which highlighted most of their rivalry was shown. After the video aired, a video showed Hush making his way to the ring without his allies as his theme music started to play. Hush made his entrance complete with large amounts of pyro as the crowd, as unbelievable as it sounds, cheered for him. But the cheers he received paled in comparison to the cheers received by Triple H as a video showed him making his way to the ring from the dressing room area too.

Triple H looked like a man long overdue for retirement. The strands of grey hair on his head and his beard with it's different strands of grey and brown hair stood out, as well as the scars on his forehead. His body ached, although he pretended that it didn't. His muscular, well-toned body was still intact after all those years, but underneath that outward image; Hunter knew it has weakened after so many years of taking abuse. He taped up his wrists with black tape and picked up a bottle of mineral water from his dressing room. Triple H arrived at the entrance ramp to a massive ovation. Hunter smiled and continued to walk down the runway.

He and Hush stared into each others eyes as the ring announcer finished the ring announcements. There was silence in the arena. The chants of Triple H died down in anticipation. The two superstars, circling each other like wolves suddenly locked up and began to wrestle. Triple H shoved Hush into the corner and threw punches left and right. Hush dodged a couple and countered with a kick to the gut and went for a DDT but was counter into a spinebuster. Hunter mounted his rival and continued to punch him savagely. The two rolled around in the ground and was separated when Hush escaped the ring and ran with Hunter on his trail. The two chased each other around the ring until Hush performed a surprise drop toe hold on Triple H, causing him to fall face first into the steel steps. Hush began stomping on him and ended it with a stiff kick to Hunter's ribs. Hunter pulled out the sledgehammer from the ring apron but was unable to use it because of a chair shot from Hush. Hunter went down and suffered through two more shots to the head before Hush ceased the attack.

Hush stormed towards the announce table and began to tear it apart. Hunter snuck up on Hush and gave him a sledgehammer shot to the back of the head. He grabbed Hush by the hair and placed him on the ECW announce table Hush was just destroying previously. Hunter motioned for The Pedigree, but Hush counter it into a back body drop into the RAW announce table. The table didn't initially break until Hush dove into Triple H's prone body, causing the table to break. Hush dragged Triple H back into the ring and threw every object he could find into the ring. Hush grabbed a chair and moved towards Hunter. He aimed at Hush at Hunter's head but was blocked by a garbage can Hunter held above his head to save himself. The two battled with all sorts of weapons, with Hunter going as far to give Hush a German suplex from the top turnbuckle into a trash can, and with Hush methodically using Triple H's own sledgehammer against him, looking to injure Hunter's legs with repeated shots. After seven-plus minutes of hardcore action, Triple H sent Hush flying over the top rope with a clothesline. Hunter used this to take a short rest before going out of the ring only to clothesline Hush over the barrier and into the audience seats. The two brawled as the rabid fans in Phoenix cheered on. Triple H spinebustered Hush on top of a chair, denting it severely. Triple H relished in Hush's pain and dragged him all the way back to the dressing rooms where people were trying their hardest to stay away. Unfortunately, Hush's allies were stationed backstage and once word got out that Hunter was back there, they jumped at the opportunity to attack him.

Pretty soon, it was a seven-on-one attack. Hunter tried to fight them off, but it was impossible. Hunter escaped and run towards the parking lot, where he saw a huge monster truck, possibly Stone Cold's. Smiling, Hunter broke into the truck and waited for Hush's allies to find him. They turned up and started wondering where Triple H might be; only to discover the horrible truth when they were chased out of the arena by Hunter himself using the large monster truck. As Hush's allies ran screaming, a sledgehammer broke through the truck's windshield. Hush had found him and pulled him out of his seat. The two fought until they were back inside the arena again.

They found themselves exactly where they started; at the ring. Hush, sledgehammer in hand, charged at him swinging like a madman on crack. Hunter attempted to steal back the sledgehammer and was able to do so after a kick to Hush's gut. Hush bent over and moaned in pain and collapsed completely when Hunter struck him in the back. Hunter could sense that the end was near, he started crotch chopping at Hush's carcass, until he felt a painful chair shot to the back of his head. He turned and saw the Randy Orton imposter wielding a chair. Hunter braced himself as he suffered through at least ten to twelve more of those shots to the head. Hunter, bleeding profusely, went down after the thirteenth shot. The Orton imposter dragged over Hush and placed him on top of Hunter. Three seconds later, the match was over and Hush was declared the winner.

After the match ended, Hunter was taken away to the hospital on an ambulance. It would be two days before he would remember the event. In fact, it would be two days before he wakes up at all.


	17. Payback's a bitch

The nurse exited room 209. On her way out, she met several people asking for Triple H's location. It was the usual rabid fans. That she could deal with. But there was more than just fans here. And normally, she would have refused to disclose any information, but this was different.

"Hey there, pretty lady! Wanna ride Space Mountain?" Ric Flair asked.

"Now's not the time Ric," Shawn said, pulling the Nature Boy back.

"Look, let's just hurry shall we," Stephanie cut in, "Where's my husband?"

"R-Room 209…" said the visibly shocked nurse.

They all zoomed past her afterwards, except Ric Flair who came back to 'Woo' her; literally. They all approached the corridor where there were literally dozens of people surrounding the door. Most were fans. It was safe to assume that the other nurses were push overs too. Either that or the fans were accompanied by someone as horny as Ric Flair. Triple H sat in his bed. His face was full of bruises. The doctors had told them that he had suffered a concussion as a result of the beating he took at One Night Stand.

"Uh, hey Hunter. Nice…face." Shawn said with a nervous grin on his face.

Triple H didn't respond. He just stared at them casually.

"You ok?" Stephanie asked.

"Been better," Hunter grumbled.

"Well that's good because I've got some good news and some bad news."

"What?"

"Good news is champ; the doctor has cleared you to wrestle. You're coming home today." Ric Flair said.

"And, I've scheduled a rematch for you with Hush at the Great American Bash, in a match of your choice." Stephanie added.

"Great, so what's the bad news?"

"I've been reassigned to work at WWE Headquarters. I'm no longer GM of Smackdown, so you're on your own." Stephanie said.

Hunter looked shocked and stared at disbelief. It took awhile for him to take the news in.

"Wait a minute, you got fired?!"

"Not exactly, I just got slightly demoted and from now on I'm gonna be working at Stamford. That's not exactly a bad thing, considering I'll be so much closer to home and be with the kids."

"This didn't happen because of me, did it?" Hunter asked.

"No, I don't think so. I've felt that this was going to happen eventually, but I wasn't sure when."

"Hey, guess who's replacing her." Ric said.

"Who?"

"That little shmuck they call Cyrus. He'll be taking over." Shawn answered.

Hunter turned to his right and picked up a mirror. He surveyed the damage done to his face. He felt the bruises on his face and remembered vividly the match. He got up and stared out the window. After a moment of silence, he turned to face them.

"What's your next move?" Shawn questioned.

"First, I head on over to ECW. I got some business to take care of." Hunter answered, turning back to the window.

ECW was, even after two weeks, still celebrating Hush's victory. Hush and his allies had virtually taken over ECW. Eliminating Triple H from the equation was the last step that lead to Hush's final victory. After defeating the legend at One Night Stand, Hush was at long last, named the new number one contender for the ECW World Title. And tonight was his night. The Main Event of ECW was Hush vs. Cade Anderson, the ECW Champion. In an Extreme Rules match.

A man in a trench coat entered the arena. As the crowd went wild when the wrestlers made their entrances, the man calmly made his way to his seat, which was behind the announce table at ringside. Triple H squeezed into his seat with an uncomfortable grunt. The fans beside him were out of control, throwing garbage into the ring as Hush made his entrance. He pulled his hat down even further so no one would see his face. He sat there and watched the match for the better part of ten minutes. It was a back and forth type of match, with Hush gaining the early advantage. The crowd seemed to be confused on whether they should cheer for Hush or not. ECW fans had a reputation of being extremely loyal, and as much as they hated to admit it, Hush was their conquering hero.

A turning point in the match was when Hush was tossed out of the ring. He landed awkwardly on his arm. The announcers began pointing out that Hush may have injured himself. This was nothing strange until Hunter saw that one of the announcers, Rob Van Dam, was apparently high. When the show went on a commercial break, RVD took of his head phones and turned to Triple H behind him, blowing a large puff of marijuana into Hunter's face.

"Hey, Trips. What's up bro? Want some pot?" RVD said.

"Pipe down! Won't you get fired for that?" Triple H said in a hushed voice.

"Hell no, man. Coach lets us do whatever we want." RVD answered.

"I mean, that's how that douche bag got his title shot anyway." He added.

"Wait a minute, are you saying Hush just requested for this?" Triple H asked.

"Yeah, he does that all the time, but up until now he always gets shot down."

"Uh, why?"

"I don't know. Something about him still having a job to do."

The show came back after it's break and RVD continued announcing. Hunter decided to make his move. During the break, Hush managed to fight through his injure and capitalized on a major chair shot to the Champion's head. Hush lifted his opponent's head up and signaled for his finisher, Sad but True, a hangman neckbreaker originally made famous by "Ravishing" Rick Rude. After the move, the entire arena went nuts. Hush was about to ascend to the top of the wrestling world. He was going to be World Champion at last.

At this moment, Hunter had jumped the guard rail. Hush's look of disbelief was priceless. Triple H kicked him in the gut and preceded to Pedigree the already injured Hush and then placed the champion on top of him. Triple H leaped back into the audience after the match was done. He looked back at Hush, who had lost consciousness and was being tended to by several trainers. Hunter smiled.

"Payback's a bitch," he muttered to himself.


	18. Shadow Rendezvous

Jonathan Coachman entered the room and wiped the sweat off his forehead.

He sat down in the vacant chair beside Cyrus, the new Smackdown GM.

"Take a seat, Coach." Shane McMahon said.

"Everything alright, boys?" Coach asked.

Neither Shane nor Cyrus answered. Coach sat down and nervously looked over his shoulder.

"He's becoming a liability." Shane said. "That stunt he pulled at your show two weeks ago …And all the things he's been doing for the past two months. The big man isn't happy about this."

"I-I thought he was away." Coach said, "You know, for his health."

"His eyes never stray too far away from this company. Even with us in charge, he still keeps an eye out for anything that goes wrong."

"Does he know about Stephanie as well?" Cyrus asked.

"Of course, he requested her removal. He knows her too well. She'll eventually try to help him."

Shane McMahon lit a Cuban cigar and offered some to Coach and Cyrus. They all smoked and didn't speak for a long time. Shane looked years younger than his age of fifty. Coach was now overweight, and extremely nervous. Cyrus was in his thirties and but was looking far older.

"How's he doing on Smackdown?" Shane said, finally.

"Ok I guess. He hasn't got any real friends but he doesn't have that much enemies either. Between RAW, where he actually has allies and ECW, where he is unanimously despised, I'd say he's on neutral ground." Cyrus answered.

"Any plans to take him out tomorrow night, Coach?" Shane asked.

"Other than leaving him to Hush? No way." Coach answered.

"You know, gentlemen, tomorrow night is the perfect time to make an example out of him…for good." Shane said, putting out his cigar. "By the way, what match did he choose for the match?"

"An I quit match." Cyrus and Coach said in unison.

"Really? He's got no friends on Smackdown right?"

"Well actually, there is John Cena. But he's not performing right now-"

"Cena you say?" Shane said, his eyes gleaming.

"Yeah, they seem to be getting along great, but Cena's in Toronto filming a movie. He won't be back until Summerslam."

Shane wasn't listening. There was a look of satisfaction in his eyes as soon as he heard Cena's name. He smiled and lit another Cigar.

"We won't have to worry about Cena even if he shows up for tomorrow's Pay-Per-View. He got Triple H right where we need him."

"Do you think he'll conform?" Cyrus asked.

"Who knows, but either way, we'll have to wait for tomorrow's results. Until then, we keep watching from the shadows."

Shane got up and fetched three glasses. He poured wine into all three and they drank the night away. On his desk was a large pile of papers. After their little rendezvous ended, he shoved them all down into the garbage bin. At the top of the pile was a picture of Triple H with a note on the upper left side that although scratched out by a black marker, was still slightly visible.

The words were unmistakable: "Threat to Attitude Era."


	19. I Quit

The Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas was sold out completely for WWE Great American Bash. Despite all the title matches on the card, the match everybody wanted to see was the one added only two weeks before the event. The I Quit match between Triple H and Hush was the main reason the entire arena was sold out in less than a minute, something that usually happens to a PPV like WrestleMania.

Triple H taped up his wrists backstage. The locker room was empty as most of the superstars were getting ready for their matches or watching the event through a monitor in the hallway. He sat somewhat nervously alone thinking about his match, until someone entered the locker room and sat next to him.

"Hey Shawn." Triple H said, without looking up.

"How'd you know it was me?" Shawn said.

"I could smell the alcohol a mile away; I thought you said you stopped?" Triple H replied.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but no, I haven't."

"Why not? It's never gonna help you."

"Naw, I just think of Rebecca and the rest is easy." Shawn said, leaning back.

"It's been five years, man. You've got to stop grieving." Triple H said.

"Hey, tonight's not about me, it's about you. Good luck tonight." Shawn said, patting Triple H in the back before walking away.

Hunter shook his head. Shawn hasn't been the same since he lost his wife. The man had found God and turned his life around. Now he was nothing but a hermit treating his mansion like a cave and medicating himself with beer. Hunter got up and started to walk towards the arena. Superstars from all three brands stood by as he walked past them. They all looked so new to him, and as he passed them by, in his mind it was 2008 all over again. CM Punk, Big Show, Jeff and Matt Hardy among others were there next to him again. They were cheering him on. Hunter smiled before reality came crashing back in.

Triple H made his entrance followed by Hush. The referee began to dictate the rules of the match, as the both of them prepared themselves for the worst. The battle began with both competitors fighting with every ounce of strength they had.

They went blow after blow, hold after hold. Triple H felt uneasy, like his intuition was telling him that something was about to go wrong. Hush punched him hard in the mouth and Hunter reeled back. He wiped the blood out of his mouth and received another punch from Hush. Triple H countered with a spear and both men were on the mat. He made his way out of the ring and quickly searched the ring apron for weapons. Hush joined him but received a shot to the head from Hunter using a garbage can lid. The battle then moved towards the announce table, with both men brawling intensely. Hush was getting better with every match they had. He was like a young, prideful lion. Very strong and hungry; hungry for recognition and fame.

A suplex from Hunter caused the destruction of the announce table. Both men were on the floor. Triple H's vision began to blur. But even with his bad eyesight, he could still see several men running towards them from the ramp. Hunter felt a baseball bat hit him in the gut. He was surrounded by Hush's allies. They all began stomping on him and attacking him with weapons. Overwhelmed, he couldn't do anything except lie down and close his eyes, until slowly the attacks began to stop. The crowd behind him cheered wildly as Triple H was getting to his feet. Hush's men was now involved in a fight against DX 2.0. Both factions seemed poised to fight to the death, until both Kyle and Kenny Robins performed stereo crossbody blocks, sending everybody crashing down to the floor.

Picking up where they left off, Triple H and Hush brawled all the way to the audience seats. Armed with a sledgehammer given to him by a fan that he passed by, Hunter was now chasing Hush who was running for dear life. Both men were bleeding and they continued to fight until they reached the backstage area. Locker rooms were torn apart, as they fought. Hunter then spinebustered Hush on the concrete floor. Grabbing the microphone, he held it to Hush's mouth.

"Say it! Quit now!" Hunter yelled.

"I….q-qu-…"Hush began to stammer.

Before he could say it, Hush snapped out of it and countered with several punches. They fought towards the boiler room and performed his signature Hangman's Neckbreaker on Hunter there. Breathing heavily, Hush pressed Hunter's face towards the hot machines. Screaming, Triple H struggled to get away from Hush. Hunter kicked Hush in the gut and knelt down to feel his face. There were welts and bruises all over, and because of the exposure to the scorching-hot surface of the machinery, the left side of his face was now suffering first-degree burns.

Triple H turned around and saw Hush with a sledgehammer of his own. The two stopped and stared at one another. Before long, they began their duel and hammers were being swung around like crazy. Hunter went down after a blow to his chest. Hush went down after a blow to his forehead. Hunter ignored the pain and continued to brutally assault Hush. He lifted the hammer up high and brought it down upon Hush's leg. Hush screamed and Hunter attacked his leg again. The continued for at least fifteen more blows. Hush's legs were now discolored, barely enabling him to move because his bones were now broken, courtesy of Triple H's sledgehammer. Hush crawled away, terror in his eyes and grabbed the mic nearby.

"I quit!" Hush yelled, "I quit!"

"Ok, that's enough!" the referee said, from behind Hunter.

Several agents and refs came to Hush's aid and helped him up. Even from their location, Hunter could hear the crowd go wild. He looked into the camera brought by the camera man and crotch chopped, signaling to the fans in the arena. He made his way back to ringside and the fans erupted in cheers as Triple H's theme music played. They had seen the entire match through the titantron. Hunter basked in his glory.

"It's over, for now." Hunter thought.

* * *

**Author's note:**

So ends Hunter's feud with Hush...for now. Up next, his saga with Randy Orton. COngrats! We've nearly made it through half of this epic story. Wow...this is gonna take a long time to finish...thanks for all the reviews!


	20. Ghosts of the Past

The two weeks following The Great American Bash dealt largely with the aftermath of the event. At ECW, Hush was announced to be sidelined with an injury that could put him out of action for up to four months. At RAW, the gang war between DX 2.0 and The Texan Mafia had reached a boiling point and their differences would finally be decided in a match at the special three-hour edition of RAW. Smackdown, however, remained silent.

After his victory at The Great American Bash, Triple H was immediately given a two-week vacation as a reward from his GM. Many, including Triple H himself, thought that this was for the best. He had spent the past two weeks at home with his family, recovering and at the same time, scouting his potential adversaries on all three brands. He had decided that he would make his return at the three-hour edition of RAW after receiving a call from Jason. Apparently, DX 2.0 was lacking in numbers, since one of their members was suddenly sent to Mexico to promote an upcoming tour there. Triple H was happy to accept the invite.

Hunter arrived at the arena and was greeted with complete silence. RAW superstars and workers didn't hate him as much as ECW superstars did, but you could still feel the tension in the air as he passed them by. He made his way towards the locker when the door opened and he indivertibly bumped into a large, blond man. It was Lance Cade, followed by Trevor Murdoch. Lance had been a big success in WWE for years, winning numerous singles and tag team titles. Murdoch had a rocky relationship with management at best, having been released and re-hired numerous times over the years.

"Whoa there! What's your hurry, big man?" Lance Cade asked.

"You're him! You're Nipple H!" Trevor exclaimed.

"Triple H…" Lance whispered into his ear.

"Oh," Trevor replied.

"Listen," Triple H said, "Whatever the hell you want, just get out of my freaking way."

Triple H paid pushed them aside but discovered that the locker room was only filled with rookies, seated firmly on the bench while a large man in a dark suit stood over them. He turned and sneered at Triple H. Bradshaw walked casually towards him. Behind the ten-gallon hat and the fancy suit, Bradshaw or JBL, was just another banged up veteran. There were enough visible scars on his forehead to see that JBL had been tested cruelly by his in-ring career. He took off his hat and ruffled his graying hair, dyed black to hide its true color.

"Having trouble with my boys, Hunter?" JBL asked in a mock tone.

"Naw, not really. Having trouble with them?" Triple H asked, pointing at the rookies.

"Hey! Everybody has to start somewhere! As for these chicken shit cowards, they'd better show legends like us some respect or there will be hell to pay."

"Oh really? What is this then? Some kind of extortion session?"

"Don't try to act so surprised Triple H, you know full well that you did the same thing with D-X and Evolution in the past. What difference does it make? Besides, you got a match with my boys to worry about." JBL said, motioning to Cade and Murdoch.

Cade and Murdoch attempted to pull Triple H away, but he shrugged them off. He made his way out and found the DX locker room. It had a green theme in the room as everything from the sofas to the TV was green. The walls themselves were spray-painted green, most of it still fresh, suggesting that maybe DX themselves did it.

"Everything ok? You look troubled." Jason asked, who was now wearing traditional DX colors.

"Fine. I just had a run-in with the Bradshaw." Triple h stated plainly.

"It's like we told you man, JBL runs RAW. His mafia's got everybody running scared."

"Why doesn't Shane do something about it?"

"Nobody does anything about anything anymore. That's how Vince McMahon runs his company these days."

"And this three-hour episode? What's it for?"

"Shane and some other people were planning something, kinda like a ratings thing for TV, and these three hour shows are always money makers for them."

"Hmph. Fucking politics." Triple H muttered.

They sat in the dressing room for most of the three-hour program. They waited until the main event, which was DX 2.0 vs. The Texan Mafia, JBL's crew. DX consisted of Triple H, Jason Teague, Kyle and Kenny Robins and the DX enforcer, Ron Baker. JBL's crew consisted of Cade and Murdoch, Bam Neely, and two muscular youngsters by the names of Rage and Riot. When the Main Event came, the mafia went out first, followed by DX. Jason started the match for his team, while Rage, a young, long-haired man started for the Mafia. They spent the first five minutes of the match looking up and chain wrestling. Rage eventually tagged in Riot and the two double teamed on Jason. Jason tagged in Hunter and he double clotheslined both Rage and Riot. Hunter fended off the two for a while until Lance Cade was tagged in.

Lance stared a hole through Hunter and Hunter did the same until he went down, courtesy of an attack by Murdoch from behind. The Robins entered the ring and fought off Murdoch as well as Rage, while Jason and Ron brawled with Riot from the outside. In the midst of the chaos, JBL had tossed a chair into the ring, causing it to be used by Lance Cade. Triple H went down after a hard shot. Lance readied himself for another shot, but fell victim to a kick to the crotch by Triple H. When the ring cleared, Hunter had gained the upper hand against Cade, but was unable to pin him due to the referee being distracted by JBL from the outside.

"Go! Get that piece of shit!" JBL yelled at Rage and Riot.

Rage and Riot ran and made the save, allowing Cade to kick out. DX came running to Hunter's aid and fought off the rest of the mafia. As Triple H got up, a looked around and couldn't find JBL anywhere. He smiled and turned around. JBL came at him with a Clothesline from Hell, but Triple H had anticipated that move and ducked. He then kicked JBL and Pedigreed him on the mat.

Hunter stood tall and performed his signature taunt, flexing his muscles at the crowd, when suddenly he was pulled back by someone. Hunter fell flat on his face, incapacitated by the blow and the next thing he knew, the match was over. It had been ruled as a double DQ. DX and the mafia continued to brawl at ringside, while Triple H spotted a man walking up the ramp. Hunter's heart began beating faster and faster. He crawled his way to the ropes and pulled himself up. He finally got a good look at the man.

The man wore the same ten-gallon cowboy hat as JBL, yet he looked younger and more muscular. He had long, wavy, black hair. His forearms were covered with tattoos. He took off the hat and threw it aside. He turned and smirked at Triple H, as he slowly held up a microphone to his mouth.

"Hunter!" Randy Orton yelled.

Triple H stared into Orton's cold eyes, feet shaking, barely able to stand.

"Not so young anymore, eh Trips?" Orton said.

"A few more years, and you'll be another dead wrestler featured on some two-bit tabloid. You're drowning in time; I know what that's like."

"Orton…" Hunter muttered.

"It's not over, not yet. But before I go, I still have a personal score to settle with you. At SummerSlam, I end what I started four years ago! Consider it a honor, Triple H, a gift from your former protégé." Randy said, before leaving.

Triple H looked around and everybody else was just as shocked as him. He nodded to himself and fell on his knees. In four weeks, his past catches up to him at SummerSlam.


	21. Legend Killer trophies

Triple H was sweating bullets. As he stood inside the squared circle, in front of a live Smackdown! audience, he paced back and forth. The crowd was not in a good mood either. It was a rough crowd from the get-go, although a New York crowd was never known to be easy. Madison Square Garden was sold out, the hype from last Monday's RAW main event to blame. In the opening segment of the show, Triple H was told by the General Manager to get in the ring and wait for Randy Orton to arrive.

He had never felt this nervous before. For months, his drive to return was to confront Randy Orton. It was the source of his rage. But now that they were about to meet face to face, it was a whole different story. He couldn't understand it. It wasn't just anger anymore. It sure as hell wasn't excitement. It was fear. As much as he hated to admit it, there was just something about Orton that made Triple H uneasy.

After a while, a backstage crew worker came running down to the ring. It turns out that Randy Orton wasn't even going to show up. Instead, he'll be appearing on the titantron via satellite from his home in St. Louis, Missouri. Within seconds, Orton's face appeared on the titantron. He was sporting the same black cowboy hat he wore a few days before, but strangely he also appeared to be wearing an Evolution shirt.

"Triple H, nice to see you again." Orton said in a tone of mock politeness.

"Bastard…" Triple H muttered under his breath.

"How long's it been, man? You've aged terribly." Orton said, "Now, I'm not here to criticize how you look, I'm here to criticize your return to wrestling."

Orton then took off the cowboy hat and wiped some sweat off his forehead.

"Nice looking hat, huh?" Orton asked, "It actually belongs to a friend of yours…what's his name…Oh, yes…Shawn Michaels."

Orton smirked. He could see the tension in Triple H's eyes and he loved it.

"You know, Shawn was the first legend I had to beat in order to become the Legend Killer." Orton added, whilst looking at the hat with great admiration in his eyes.

"The difference is, I always had respect for Shawn Michaels, even if I did end his career too."

In that very moment, Triple H had another flash back. It was three years ago, and he was working backstage. Roughly a year had passed since his retirement, and he had already gone from a superstar to a road agent. He had been suffering through a depression and was in terrible shape. He was by the catering table, making himself a cup of coffee when suddenly someone ran towards him. It was one of the referees. Shawn was wrestling that night, putting his career on the line against Randy Orton, in a similar fashion to his match against Ric Flair back in WrestleMania XXIV. Triple H and the referee ran towards the Gorilla Position, the open space just beyond the curtain, when Randy Orton came out. He didn't even glance at Triple H. He just walked back to the locker room. Shawn came out a little while later with his head down. He lost and his career was over.

"Do you remember that day?" Orton said, "At least Shawn went out in a blaze of glory, something I was happy to give him."

Orton stood up and picked up an old WWE magazine. It was dated November 2017. Three years ago. On the cover was The Undertaker along with Randy Orton. The headline was large and simple: "The legend Dies Already".

"Let's not forget The Undertaker. He too left this company because of me. But Taker was proud. He should be, being a legendary figure here for twenty-seven years. Do you remember that too? It was Survivor Series…A casket match…and it was there that I solidified my claim as the Legend Killer and I literally put the final nail in The Undertaker's coffin." Orton said.

He sat back down and picked up a portrait, a portrait of Evolution. It was from Armageddon 2003, the night Triple H became the World Heavyweight Champion, Ric Flair and Batista became the World Tag Team Champions and the night Randy Orton captured his first championship: the Intercontinental Championship.

"Look at us," Orton said proudly, "At our prime. The height of our dominance…But you had to ruin that didn't you? After I won that World Title, what did you do? I'll tell you what you did, you did this."

A video then began to play. It was the night after Summerslam 2004; Randy Orton had just retained the title against Chris Benoit. Evolution came to his side for the victory. But something went wrong. Like a Roman Emperor voicing his disapproval, Triple h had given Randy Orton a thumbs down; the gesture that sealed their history forever. As Hunter stared at the video, he couldn't help but feel a little bit of regret. His past truly had come back to haunt him.

"That's enough!" Triple H yelled, "Orton, if that's all you're interested in doing, then screw you, because I sure as hell don't need a history lesson!"

"Easy there, calm down man. I was just sharing a few things, I mean; it's been a long while hasn't it? But I know when to get serious too. That's why I'm laying down this challenge. Meet me at SummerSlam, for that rematch we know you're just dying to have and let's get this over with, shall we? I have a career to focus on. You on the other hand…don't, not after SummerSlam."

The lights went out and darkness filled the arena. After a while, the titantron went back on, while everything else remained dark. Orton wasn't on the screen anymore, but instead it was Jason Teague from DX. He was tied to a chair and severely beaten by the looks of his face. He was covered in blood and bruises and was barely conscious. A second later, he was on the receiving end of a painful-looking chair shot, courtesy of Randy Orton. The smugness in Orton's eyes faded.

"SummerSlam…" Orton said, before the lights went back on and the video ended.


	22. The Last Days of War part 1

The weeks leading to the biggest event of the summer, SummerSlam, was by far the most watched since WrestleMania. Immediately after the challenge had been made, the answer was predictable and expected: On August 30, two legends will clash for the first time in years. "The Game" Triple H vs. "The Living Legend" Randy Orton. It was hyped more than all three World Title matches on the card, and after less than ten minutes of discussion, the GMs and the road agents all agree that the main event of SummerSlam should be HHH vs. Orton II.

The hype was just the beginning. It would soon grow into epic proportions.

A week after the challenge was issued, Triple H publicly accepted the challenge and both he and Orton commented on the match during a press conference. The officials of World Wrestling Entertainment, knowing that a contract signing that takes place during TV tapings usually end in brawls, chose to let it take place during the press conference. For security reasons, the need for additional guards was understandable. But it wasn't outside interference that they were afraid of; it was the hostility of Triple h and Orton.

At RAW, John "Bradshaw" Layfield made a rare return to the ring, temporarily coming out of retirement to take on The Robins of DX in a handicap match. The match resulted in a double DQ after Randy Orton interfered, despite not being advertised for the show. Orton attacked JBL viscously with a chair before attacking both Robins. At the end of the night, the mat was bloodstained with the blood of Bradshaw and The Robins. Triple H was watching the attack from his home in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Not surprisingly, that night Hunter had nightmares about No Mercy 2007, concerning the last man standing match he had with Orton that night.

The next night, on ECW, Randy Orton made another impromptu appearance. This time, his victim was ECW diva Janny Kanellis, hitting her with an RKO. After the attack, he also assaulted her boyfriend, DX member Ron Baker. After leveling both of them with RKOs, Randy grabbed a mic and yelled as the fans began to toss garbage into the ring.

"In three weeks, It finally comes to an end," Orton said.

"In three weeks-"

Orton had to stop. The crowd's jeers were drowning him down.

"In three weeks time, the legend of Triple H and DX will be a myth. As big of a legend as I am, I'll prove that I'm still capable of killing legends, but while I'm here, I might as well kill the legend of ECW as well."

Orton got out of the ring and pulled an ECW banner from underneath the ring apron. He lit a flame and was about to burn the banner when a familiar music began to play.

"Randy, that's enough!" Jonathan Coachman yelled, "These fine gentlemen behind me will be escorting you out of the building."

The entrance ramp was suddenly filled with security guards on their way to the ring, but Orton was able to escape through the audience. Orton made his way out but before leaving entirely, he turned and shot Coachman a defiant look.

"Before you go, I would just like to say that I have just spoken with the other GMs and we have agreed to ban you from all WWE shows until next week. But on RAW, you will face an opponent of our choice."

By next Monday, Orton's reign of chaos looked like it was about to end. The GMs had booked him in a match against DX's remaining member, Johnny Daniels. The stipulation was that if Orton intentionally got himself disqualified or counted out, he would automatically forfeit his match at SummerSlam. Another stipulation, one that they neglected to tell him was that there would be a special guest referee for the match. Triple H strutted his way to the ring, wearing a small referee shirt. The match was over in ten minutes, with Orton receiving a Pedigree for the first time in four years.

That Friday marked the in-ring return of John Cena. It had been months since Cena had a match. In his first match, Cena's made to team up with Triple H against the WWE tag team champs, a young up-and-coming team. Before the match began, Cena spoke with Hunter at his dressing room.

"Everything all right?" Triple H asked, noting the concern on Cena's face.

"I just wanna let you know that, um, I appreciate this…what you're doing."

"No, no. It's fine man. Don't worry about a thing. We'll show these guys how to do things old school."

"Alright man, but I also want to warn you about something."

"What's that?"

"Leave after you're done." Cena said plainly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, after you finish things with Orton, leave. Forever."

"I still don't get what you're trying to tell me--"

"You don't have to, just do it. It's not safe here anymore. Especially not for you."

With that message in mind, Triple H and John Cena made their entrance followed by the WWE tag team champs. The match itself was a classic. It lasted twenty minutes with Triple H and Cena getting the victory. But the night wasn't over. The lights dimmed and the Titantron showed a horrible revelation. A video began to play. And it was being narrated by Randy Orton.

"This is what happens to people who think they can stand against me." Orton began, "Since there will be no witty comebacks, no remarks, then I'll provide the narration. Sit back and watch as I derail the most popular faction in history into nothing."

The video showed Orton breaking into the DX locker room after RAW went off the air and began to viscously attack Johnny Daniels. Triple H watched in horror as Randy Orton ended the attack with a punt to Johnny's head. As he turned, he saw that Cena was no longer there. Instead, Cena was laid out at ringside. Hunter had anticipated this attack, but still, a chair shot to the back of the head was extremely painful to take.

As he turned to face his assailant, Randy Orton, he saw that he was being attacked by a lead pipe. He tried to fight it, but Orton came swinging with precise blows to his ribs. As they continued to fight, Cena rushed to the ring and evened things out, forcing Orton to bail.

"One week!" Orton yelled, "And then you're mine!"

"You don't get it, do you? This isn't a mudhole…It's an operating table. And I'm the surgeon! Welcome to hell, Orton!" Triple H yelled back as Orton retreated backstage.

After letting out the rage, Hunter suddenly felt calm. He felt no elation. He felt only a certainty that he had once again walked blindly into Orton's trap. But the good part is, is that in nine days, he finally gets to exorcise his demons to rest. For good.

* * *

Author's note:

Hopefully, this story isn't getting stale and boring to you people...because we're only half-way through. Honestly, this thing has been a real challenge and I probably would've deleted this story long ago if it wasn't for your support so thank you. Give me some feedback: your thoughts, comments, suggestions, criticism, how you think this story's gonna end, etc. Keep those reviews coming! they're the real sources of inspiration.


	23. The Last Days of War part 2

The Reliant Stadium of Houston, Texas was sold out. SummerSlam was indeed the biggest even of the summer. But out of all the matches featured on the card, none could compare to HHH vs. Orton II. Inside the arena, the fans were on the edge of their seats. The pay-per-view had just begun, and there was some major pyro display at the entrance ramp. The show was then formally opened by the RAW announce team, Todd Grisham and Dave Batista.

"Welcome everybody to the sold out Reliant Stadium for WWE's annual event, SummerSlam!" Grisham said.

"That's right folks!" Batista replied, "And what a show we have tonight, five title matches and one of them will be contested in a ladder match!"

"That's not all, partner. There's also the main event, Triple H vs. Randy Orton, the grudge match of the decade! You have some history with both men, tell me Dave, what is going through their minds right now?"

"Well all I can say is, is that both men have victory in their thoughts and they're not gonna settle for anything less."

Backstage, Triple H was getting ready for his match. He sat alone in his dressing room, taping his fists. He stared into the TV monitor and watched the first match. He sat alone until he heard a knock on his door.

"Come in." Triple H said.

John Cena entered the room. As usual, Cena looked grim and concerned about something. Tonight Cena was dressed in a suit, something that surprised Triple H. Without speaking, he sat down next to Hunter and watched the match with him. After a while, Cena finally broke the awkward silence.

"Look, I just wanna wish you luck in your match tonight." Cena said.

"Thanks, but I don't need luck." Triple H said without turning to face him.

"Ok, but be careful. Things might not go as planned. Things might go wrong."

"Yeah, I understand your concern, but Orton doesn't scare me."

"It's not just Orton…Look, how old are you?"

"How old are you?!" Triple H shot back, "And what does that have to do with anything?"

"Triple H, guys like us should be content to just visiting the boys and signing autographs at reunion shows. We can't keep this up forever. Even if we could, they wouldn't let us."

"Who?"

Cena shot him a weird look. Triple H finally understood.

"Are you talking about the McMahons? What makes you think they can do anything to stop me? Let's not forget, I've been having thanksgiving dinner with them every year for four years now."

"Marrying one won't help you, but just think about it man."

"I'm not retiring."

"You should. Forget this business and leave after you're done. I'm your friend here, man, and I'm just looking out for you."

With that, John Cena walked towards the door before turning to face Triple H one last time. There was a look of genuine pity in his eyes…as well as guilt.

"Good luck out there." Cena said, before leaving.

Triple H spent the next two hours in his dressing room, making sure that no one bothered him. He warmed up, he stretched, shadow-boxed and performed push ups. He stared into his reflection at the mirror. An old and battered man was staring back. His hair and his beard were graying. There were visible scars on his forehead and everyday more wrinkles appear on his face. Maybe Cena was right, maybe it was time to call it quits. He already proved something to himself: he could still hang with the best. He wasn't useless yet. If tonight were to be his last match, it would be good.

"Good enough…" Hunter muttered to himself.

He made his way outside and bought a small mineral water from a vending machine. He took a sip of it and poured a lot of it in himself. He continued his walk until he arrived at the corridor that led to the ringside area. To his surprise, John Cena was there along with other backstage workers and superstars from all three brands. Cena began to clap and pretty soon, everyone started clapping. Triple H gave a faint smile and moved on. As he made his way down the hall, his pride swelled. His heart began beating faster than ever. Whatever doubt and fear he had felt before the match disappeared entirely. In it's place was an adrenaline rush. It was game time.

His entrance theme played and the crowd threw a fit. As he stood there, before thousands upon thousands of people, he thought "This is it." This is what being a WWE superstar was all about. He made his way towards the ring and stood at the ring apron. He spat out as much water as he could, and ascended to the top turnbuckle. He raised his arms in pride and screamed out to the fans, and they roared back in appreciation. After his ovation, Orton's music played. Even the fans cheered for Randy Orton. Triple H watched as his ex-student made his way to the ring.

"You ready for this?" Orton whispered to his ear when he arrived inside the ring.

"You bet you're sorry ass I'm ready."

"Good."

Without any warning, Orton threw the first punch. Triple H took the punch and countered with a stronger one to Orton's gut. Orton bent over, allowing Triple H to whip him across the rope. Orton countered that move with a running crossbody, knocking both of them down.

"That's good boy." Hunter thought, ignoring the pain, "I'd expect nothing less."

They continued the match with Orton gaining the upper hand early on. Orton fought with several stomps to Triple H's fallen body, but Hunter was able to block one and used it to sweep Orton off his feet.

"Child's play…the bastard's toying with me." Hunter thought again, "Let's give this a shot."

Hunter leaped into the air and landed on Orton's leg. He then placed all of his body weight on top of Orton's leg while methodically twisting it in knots. That wasn't all however; Triple H then applied an Indian Deathlock. Orton screamed in pain, twitching on the ground. Desperately, he frantically crawled towards the bottom rope and after several futile attempts, Orton finally grabbed the bottom rope and Hunter was forced to release the hold. He picked Orton up and lifted him in the air for a vertical suplex.

"Welcome to hell, Orton…and I am the devil." Triple H whispered into Orton's ear, before slamming him to the ground. He went for the pin but only got a two count. Orton got up and kicked Triple H in the head. Triple H went down and quickly found himself being lifted into the top turnbuckle by Orton. Randy Orton then executed a Neckbreaker from the top turnbuckle. The pain at the back of Triple H's head was excruciating. But for some reason, he couldn't help but laugh.

"That's good…Hurt me more!!" Triple H yelled at Orton.

Using up what's left of his adrenaline rush, Triple H got up and speared Orton off his feat. A series of lefts and rights followed and then came the Spinebuster. Triple H got up and crotch-chopped Orton, leading the fans to chant "DX! DX! DX!" repeatedly. He picked up Orton for the Pedigree, but couldn't bring himself to do it. He thought back to the pain and agony Orton had caused him through the years. The pedigree wasn't enough. He needed something more potent.

"Hunter…" Orton said, on his knees, leaning against Triple H's body. "You disappoint me…"

As quickly as Orton said it, he got up and hit the RKO. Both men fell on the mat with a sickening thud. It was 2016 all over again. The referee began his count.

"One!!" The referee yelled.

"Two!!"

"Three!!"

The fans began to cheer wildly. Everyone in the arena was on the edge of their seats. Both men got up and began trading punches. Soon both began leaning on each other, barely able to stand. They looked into each other's eyes, and each caught a glimpse of the other's thoughts. But Hunter reacted first. He kicked Orton in the stomach and Pedigreed him. Before pinning him, Triple H turned Orton over on his belly and leaped as high as he could and brought his weight down on Orton's lower back as hard as he could. Orton let out a yell, and after three seconds, it was over.

"And the winner of the match: Triple H!!" The ring announcer yelled.

Triple H fell on his knees and wept. It was over, it was finally over. Four years of pain and nightmares came to a crashing halt on August 30, 2020. The referee raised his hand in victory. Triple H watched as officials tended to Randy Orton, but he couldn't care less. He was free at last.

* * *

Somewhere at the back, Shane McMahon smiled. He picked up his phone and began to dial some numbers.

"Our boy's done it." He spoke, "There will be no stopping us now."

"Good. But what if he becomes a threat?" The man on the phone asked.

"Simple. We let the dogs loose." Shane answered.


	24. The offer and the consequence

Triple H took a deep breath. He was alone in his gym in Greenwich, Connecticut. It was a fine Wednesday afternoon, meaning it was one of his many days off from work. He lifted the bar and placed it back on the bench. He got up and surveyed his surroundings. Heavy Metal music was blasting on the speakers, there were barbell plates all over the floor and as he turned to the mirror, he saw someone he hadn't seen in over four years: himself, finally happy and satisfied. He decided that he was done for the day and cleaned up. He put a shirt on and went in his office. There was a message waiting for him on his answering machine.

"You and I need to discuss some…things." An unknown voiced said, as he played the message.

"First of all, I would like to say congratulations on your victory at SummerSlam, but don't celebrate just yet…what you did made them happy, but their satisfaction won't last…believe me."

"What the hell is this guy talking about?" Triple H thought as he sat down.

"You are still on 'probation status' for them, and if you don't perform according to their plans, they will find a way to get rid of you…you have been warned. They'll be back to test you."

After that, the message stopped playing. Triple H sat there in silence, hoping to understand what he had just heard. Who was that caller? And who did he mean when he kept referring to "they"? Triple H thought about it for a while before dismissing the thought. Whoever that was, it probably didn't mean a thing. Either it was just some prank intended to scare him, or it was something serious. But either way, Triple H knew he wasn't about to lose any sleep over it.

Two days later, Triple H was on the road, driving a Hummer. He was on his way to the arena for tonight's edition of Friday Night Smackdown. When he got to the arena, the backstage area was already pretty chaotic. Road agents were busy speaking with the young talent. Superstars were eating the food on the catering table, some were sleeping, and others were playing video games. The divas were busy talking with each other and applying make up. Triple H smiled; it was just another day at work. He walked passed them and occasionally smiled at the others that glanced at him. Unbeknownst to him though, was the fact that everybody else stared at him as he passed by. And no one was smiling.

He had received a text message from the General Manager earlier saying that he got his own dressing room tonight. Triple H felt he would've been fine changing with the rest of the boys anyway, but who could say no to a five-star dressing room? He quickly located it and noticed that the door was slightly 

opened. When he got inside Cyrus, the General Manager of Smackdown was sitting on the couch, talking quietly on the phone. When he saw Triple H, he quickly ended the conversation and smiled.

"Hey there Trips, How was the flight?" Cyrus asked.

"It was fine. Now, if you don't mind me asking, why are you here?" Triple H said.

"Well, I just want to talk. That's all. I mean, we never really had a chance to talk--"

"You're a terrible liar. What do you want from me?" Triple H said, in a more serious voice.

"Well, actually, I'm here on behalf of the Board of Directors…" Cyrus said nervously.

"What the hell for? Did I do something wrong?"

"No, no, no…we want you to cooperate with us in a certain project…"

"You know what; I'm not really comfortable with this, so uh, why don't we just talk about it some other time?"

"Hunter, just listen to what I have to say first."

Triple H put his bags down and sat beside Cyrus. There was something wrong about the situation. He could tell by the look in Cyrus' eyes. He was scared, scared to even be in the same room as him. There was something about this that neither of them felt comfortable about.

"The Board of Directors had just come up with a plan to raise ratings and to attract viewers of the teenaged to adult demographic, and while I can't tell you everything right now, all you have to do is to agree with it and help them endorse it publicly." Cyrus said.

"So, uh, let me get this straight, you guys want me to be your poster boy in this corporate bullshit you're trying to feed down the fans' throats?!" Triple H asked.

"Poster boy is putting things lightly Hunter. We want you to be our spokesperson. We're gonna hold press conferences. We're gonna put you on talk shows. You don't have to worry about a thing; we'll feed you every bit of info you're gonna reveal to the public."

"And in exchange, we can get you this…" Cyrus said, pulling out the World Heavyweight Championship belt from a bag.

"Due to the controversial circumstances regarding the title match at SummerSlam, the title was subsequently declared vacant. You were the first person in WWE history to hold this belt…and if I 

remember things right, it was given, no, awarded to you personally." Cyrus said, with a gleam in his eyes.

"So now you're bribing me?" Triple H asked, sounding half amused.

"Think of it as down payment for everything…So, what do you say?" Cyrus said hopefully.

"Get out of dressing room." Triple H said, the smile from his face gone.

Cyrus looked pissed. He placed the belt back in his bag and stormed out. Before leaving completely though, he looked back at Triple H. For a while their eyes met, and for the first time, Triple H saw a hint of intensity behind Cyrus' glare; a glimpse of hidden power and rage.

"If I'm gonna have that thing around my waist, I'm gonna earn it." Triple H said.

"I'm glad you feel that way Hunter because your month-long vacation ends next week. Now, I know it must've been fun making all these appearances on TV without having to wrestle, but just because you're a legend doesn't mean you get special privileges. You're wrestling next week and then at the Pay-Per-View, you're gonna have another match." Cyrus said.

"Oh really? Gee, that's real frightening. So who's it gonna be?" Triple H said in a cocky tone.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out come Unforgiven." Cyrus exclaimed.

Cyrus left the room. Triple H got up and closed his door. He opened up a bottle of Gatorade and took a sip. So now he's wrestling at WWE Unforgiven against an unknown opponent.

"Whoop de Fucking do." He said, taking another sip.


	25. Ambush

"One!"

"Two!"

"Three!"

The referee called for the bell. Triple H's theme music began blasting through the speakers. Triple H mounted the top turnbuckle and did his signature pose for the crowd. It was Triple H's first match in a month ever since his victory over Randy Orton at SummerSlam. Triple H felt like a new man, like several years had been taken from his life. He felt young and in his prime again for the first time in years. He got out of the ring and walk towards the backstage area after signing some autographs for some fans at ringside. When he arrived backstage, a road agent handed him a bottle of water.

"Thanks Larry." Triple H said, taking a sip of water.

"No problem." Larry mumbled.

Triple H peacefully strolled towards the locker room, whistling the tune of his theme song "My Time" as he did. He passed by the office of Cyrus, which was open, on his way to the locker room. Hunter glanced towards Cyrus' direction for a while before taking another sip of water. After Hunter passed by, Shane McMahon closed the door and locked it. He sat down and poured himself a bottle of champagne.

"He's doesn't seem to be worrying about that match at Unforgiven." Shane said.

"He's a cocky piece of shit, I'll give him that." Cyrus replied.

"But he backs it up, so now--"

"We raise the bar. We take "The Game" to the next level." Cyrus said, cutting Shane off.

"Does Coachman know about the plan?"

"He said he'll send back up. Don't worry about a thing. By the way, what's Orton's status?"

"We rushed him to the hospital right after SummerSlam. His back's in tremendous pain. He'll be out for at least a year." Shane said casually.

"So no involvement from the Japanese this time?"

"No." Shane said, getting up.

"We have to get this thing done soon. My father has invested a lot into this project. The future of the company depends on this." Shane said before leaving.

* * *

Triple H marched down the ramp as his theme music played. WWE Unforgiven was sold out. His match may not be the Main Event, but the fact that nobody knows who his opponent is going to be is still intriguing. Triple H stood in the ring and stretched a little bit. A lot was going through his mind. His thoughts drifted from his mystery opponent to the newly added stipulation that the match would be Falls Count Anywhere. After his theme music died down, Cyrus' face appeared on the Titantron. Triple H, although not entirely surprised by his appearance, glared at Cyrus. Cyrus pretended not to notice and cleared his throat.

"How are you all doing tonight? I hope you're all enjoying the pay-per-view because it's only about to get wilder." Cyrus said, his face beaming.

"Things are looking up," Cyrus said, looking serious, "But not for you, Triple H."

"When I announced this match on , I said your opponent would be someone you'd least expect, there was a misunderstanding. It was supposed to say opponents."

Triple H felt a cold chill down his spine. He finally realized how dangerous his situation is.

"Triple H, you will be facing not one, not two, not three, not even four wrestlers! No, no, no. You'll be facing and entire faction! With Jonathan Coachman's permission, I was able to bring back a defunct faction for one night only."

A familiar rock song began to play and several wrestlers dressed in grunge-type attires began to walk down the ramp. It was the remnants of Hush's old gang from ECW. Triple H grabbed his sledgehammer from underneath the ring as fast as he could and then got back in the ring. Two guys came running towards him and received shots to the stomach for it. Two down, five more to go. The rest began circling the ring. Triple H gripped his sledgehammer tightly, staring at all directions. One of them jumped him from behind. Triple H fought back, but the rest soon followed. His mind was racing, trying to think of a way out of this. Individually, he could take care of any of them. All at once? Impossible. A greasy-looking guy kicked him in the nuts and took his sledgehammer. While the rest held his arms and legs, the greasy-looking one raised the hammer up high before giving Triple H a crippling blow to the shoulder.

"Fuck…" Triple H said to himself as he felt his shoulder went numb.

He received another blow, this time to the face. Triple H spat out his blood and looked up. The greasy-looking guy was preparing for another blow.

"Gonna tell me to suck it now, big man?" he said.

"Maybe…" Triple H replied.

With one swift motion, Triple H used all the strength he had to pull his right arm out of their grasp, pulling the one holding it in the process. Just as the final blow was about to land, Triple H ducked and the one holding his arm got hit instead. Triple H broke free began laying them out with several lefts and rights. Triple H brawled with the one holding his sledgehammer and as the guy began leaning on the ropes, Triple H mustered enough strength to clothesline him out of the ring. As the guy fell, Triple H knelt down and grabbed his left shoulder. It was in intense pain, maybe it was even broken.

He got out of the ring and Pedigreed one of the wrestlers, effectively taking him out. Triple H turned to the rest, who were now at ringside and armed with chairs, and taunted them to attack with a crotch chop. One of them was stupid enough to attack, but Triple H knocked him down with a drop toe hold. The rest followed, but Triple H had a game plan for them. Picking up the steel steps, he threw it at them before climbing up the second turnbuckle. With the other five gang members momentarily distracted, he dove on them with a huge splash. All of them lay motionless on the floor. The crowd cheered and began throwing chairs into the ring, echoing a similar situation in ECW years before. Triple H got up and picked up his sledgehammer. Still clutching his injured shoulder, he fed off the energy of the live crowd and began feeling an adrenaline rush.

"Chicken shit cowards…" He muttered to himself.

Triple H picked up the nearest one and gave him a blow to the spine. The poor soul twitched for a while before falling on the ground. Another one came running at him but fell short on his attack, giving Hunter the opportunity to Pedigree him on the floor. At that very moment, the crowd went nuts. Literally the entire ECW roster came running down the ramp and attacked Triple H. Hunter was battered and broken. The ECW roster beat him to unconsciousness, and as he passed out, one of the participants of the match pinned him.

"And the winners of the match, ECW!" the ring announcer yelled, as the ECW theme song played.

The entire ECW roster celebrated in the ring, as the fans threw garbage at them. The wrestlers didn't seem to mind though. Just as they were being targeted with garbage, they too saw it fit to throw things at the fallen carcass of Triple H, although they did it in a more 'extreme' fashion. As they celebrated, they also began to clean out the ring by throwing the chairs at ringside, on Triple H more specifically.

As the pay-per-view went into intermission, the last sight the people watching on TV saw was Triple H buried underneath a mountain of steel chairs. Backstage, someone was obviously enjoying the sight. Hush opened a can of beer and took a sip.

"Perfect." He said, as he drank some more.


	26. In Search of a Legend

The next few weeks were very difficult for the WWE. Hush was back, and with a vengeance. Through unknown ways, Hush had taken over ECW. The entire roster was now a part of Hush's stable. Even Jonathan Coachman, ECW's General Manager, was now working for Hush. In just a matter of days, Hush had magnificently staged a coup d'état on ECW. It was reminiscent of the now's takeover of WCW in the past. A week after Unforgiven they invaded RAW. They interfered with the Main Event and brawled with the RAW superstars well after the show went off the air.

On ECW the next night, they announced that Triple H and DX were officially banned from the up-coming pay-per-view, Cyber Sunday. Soon after that, they issued an open challenge to any superstar on RAW and Smackdown to an Extreme Rules match with Hush. On Smackdown, they interfered once again in the Main Event and attacked the World Heavyweight Champion. After ganging up on the champion, they took his championship belt and spray painted "ECW" on it.

Two weeks later the challenge was accepted. On Cyber Sunday, Hush faces off against Jack Dent from RAW as well as Eddy Impact from Smackdown. Despite his numerous protests, Triple H still wasn't scheduled for a match on Cyber Sunday and his name was removed from any poll posted on as well. The GMs, as it seems, had signed an official contract to not only ban Triple H and DX from Cyber Sunday, but they were banned from any ECW show as well.

The event itself was a disaster. On Cyber Sunday, the Extreme Rules match was given three stipulations for the fans to choose from. First, the winner would receive a shot at the WWE Championship on RAW. Secondly, the winner would receive a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship on Smackdown. And lastly, the winner would get a shot at the ECW Championship on ECW. The fans chose the ECW title and the match was set. The match was largely a two on one assault, with Hush at the disadvantage. But the new head of ECW wasn't about to take that lying around. Within minutes, ECW superstars came rushing to Hush's aid. The interference led to the rest of the RAW and Smackdown superstars to interfere as well. In the chaos, nobody noticed Triple H and DX arrive and attack Hush, enabling Jack Dent from RAW to pin him.

The entire ECW roster was beyond upset. But they weren't about to have a RAW superstar take their World title away. So two days after Cyber Sunday, the match was officially ruled a No Contest, due to what they called "controversial issues" and therefore, Jack Dent's shot at the ECW title was null and void.

"Henceforth, Extreme Championship Wrestling declares open war on WWE." Hush announced on ECW.

"But take note, I will allow a match to take place on Survivor Series. Me and four of my most trusted stable mates are issuing a challenge to D-Generation X. But as punishment for their involvement at Cyber Sunday, I will suspend two of their members and ban them from ringside. Good luck finding new members in time."

DX was quick to recruit Triple H immediately to their cause. But a fifth and final member was harder to acquire. Hush was issuing challenges all over the three brands. Survivor Series now had several inter-brand matches added to the card within a few days and the entire company was in turmoil.

Two weeks before Survivor Series, DX was getting desperate. Absolutely no one would join their team, and anybody who did quickly found themselves targets of Hush and ECW.

"This is absolute bullshit!" Jason Teague yelled, as they watched another superstar carried away on a stretcher, "This isn't fair! We're gonna be dead when Survivor Series comes around."

"No, we're not. We're just not looking in the right places." Triple H replied.

Jason sighed and punched the wall. It's been a tough week. Two superstars came to them and practically begged to be a part of their team. Within an hour, one of them was found bleeding in a boiler room whilst the other suffered a concussion two days later at a house show. Hush had spies even on RAW.

"What are we gonna do?! Survivor series is in two weeks!" Jason continued to yell.

"It's not over yet. We can still--"

"Everyone we turn to gets jumped from behind! This place is a war zone. Compared to Hush, Orton seems like a pretty decent guy right about now!"

"Yeah, too bad we can't recruit him." Triple H said sarcastically.

"Isn't there anyone? Anyone at all that isn't in a hospital that we can turn to?" Kyle Robins said.

"Jack's suspended, Davey is involved in that Triple threat, and if I recall, David Flair is leading a team of his own into Survivor Series, so he's no help to us." Kenny replied.

"What about Cena?" Jason said to Triple H.

"What about him?" Triple H replied.

"Can't you talk to him or something? He's your friend! He can help!"

"These days, the only thoughts in Cena's mind are retirement and movies. The guy is a spent force and I doubt we could get to him in time."

"You know, there was a time when John Cena was a true locker room leader," Kenny said, "I remember watching him as a kid. He was so full of life. When me and Kyle were starting out, the first one to show us the ropes was Cena. Are all old-timers that disgruntled nowadays?" He said to Triple H.

Triple H shot him a dirty look. He took out his Cell phone and began scanning through the names on his address book. The names of Legends and Hall of Famers immediately began flashing. Mark Callaway, Ric Flair, David Bautista, Shawn Michaels. Shawn Michaels. Triple H looked up.

"Shawn…" He muttered to himself.

"What did you say?" Jason asked.

"Shawn Michaels. Why didn't I think of it sooner?" Triple H said.

He called Shawn on his cell phone. Shawn didn't respond. As Smackdown went off the air, Triple H rushed to his hotel room and dialed the phone. He spent the next three hours on the phone, calling Shawn repeatedly, although his calls remained unanswered.

"C'mon, Shawn! Pick up the goddamn phone!" He said to himself.

He called for a few more minutes before calling it a night. Shawn wasn't home. And if he was, he was probably too hung over to pick up the phone. Triple H turned off his lights and went to bed. Just as he was about to doze off, his cell phone received a text message. It was from Shawn.

"Can't talk. Come to San Antonio. Rebecca's anniversary tomorrow. I'd really appreciate it." Triple H read out loud.

Of course! How could he be so insensitive? Tomorrow was the third anniversary of Rebecca Hickenbottom's passing. She was Shawn's wife. After she died, Shawn simply fell apart. The job of recruiting him just became harder.


	27. Lament of the Heart Break Kid

Shawn Michaels took a sip from his beer. It's 3 pm in the afternoon and he's been sitting in front of his wife's grave since nine in the morning. There were no tears in his eyes. Face remained expressionless as he sat alone. Every now and then, he'd check his watch, as if he was waiting for something. On the grave was a picture of him and his wife on their wedding day and several bouquets of flowers. Shawn drank some more, until he finished the entire can. Without turning his head, he reached down to his six-pack to get another until a hand grabbed his own.

"Take it easy there, Shawn." Triple H said, approaching the grave from behind.

"Glad you could make it." Shawn said without turning his head.

"She would've appreciated it a lot, Hunter, thank you." He continued.

Triple H walked towards the grave and stared at it for a few moments. He knelt on one knee and said a silent prayer before laying his flowers on top of all the rest. He found it calming. Just a day before, he was in a large arena with thousands of screaming fans. Now that only he and Shawn were present, it seemed like such a long time ago. He stared at their wedding picture. God, she was beautiful. He remembered when Shawn had his first retirement; he was a wreck then just as much as he is now. Then she came into his life. He was saved. He found God and moved on.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Triple H asked.

"No," Shawn replied.

"Well drinking won't get rid of the pain…or…"

"Bring her back?"

"Yeah, Shawn, it won't bring her back."

"I know that. What's your point?"

"My point is," Triple H said, grabbing the six-pack away from Shawn, "This isn't you! She wouldn't want you to drink."

Shawn sighed. He never made any eye contact at all ever since Triple H arrived. His facial expression remained the same: blank. He gripped the cross he wore around his neck tightly. He lowered his head and took his eyes off the grave for the first time in a long, long while. He finally turned to face Triple H. Shawn looked so much older than he actually was. There was a lot of grey hair in his head and beard. His eyes looked extremely sore, which was weird considering that Triple H never saw Shawn cry about his wife at all.

"It's been three years. The Ovarian cancer finally took its toll. She was so brave throughout the whole ordeal." Shawn said.

"The funeral was good."

"It was also the last time I spoke with my son, Cameron."

"What happened?"

"We had a fight. It was stupid; it was about College or something. He's in the Navy now."

"Didn't you ever try to reconcile with him?"

Shawn didn't respond. He turned away from Triple H and back towards the grave. Shawn began to look sad this time around. They didn't speak for a while. As they both sat in silence, numerous leaves were blown towards their direction. Two teenagers, most probably siblings, were then seen walking past them. Both girls glanced at them and started whispering to each other. They stopped at a grave not too far away and paid their respects.

"Shawn, don't your kids ever visit this place?"

"My daughter came by yesterday. She's sixteen; she's got her own things to worry about now. Cameron's been at sea for the past two years."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's ok. She would've understood."

Shawn got up and started to walk away. Triple H followed him slowly. As they arrived downhill, Shawn's car was parked just outside the gate. He turned for one last look and waved good-bye. Shawn stared at the hill a little bit longer before leaving.

"Hey, where's your car?" Shawn asked.

"Naw, I just took a cab. Besides, I'm riding shotgun today." Triple H said with a smile.

Shawn didn't return the smile. Instead, he gestured for Triple H to get in. They drove around town for the next few hours. Every once in a while, Shawn would pull over and tell Triple H about the things he and his wife used to do at those particular places. By seven in the evening, they ate at some run-down diner. Shawn stayed silent all throughout the meal. Afterwards, they went to Shawn's place. Triple H wanted to stay at his hotel, but Shawn insisted that he stay the night.

"Is your daughter ok with this?" Triple H asked, "I bet she'd scream her lungs out if she sees some old guy curled up on your coach."

"She's at my parent's house. She'll be there for the next two weeks." Shawn replied.

"Shawn, let me ask you something."

"What?"

"When was the last time you cried?"

"What does that have to do anything?"

"I know you're hurt, but I think it's time you shed some tears and move on, Shawn."

"Hunter--"

"No, Shawn! I mean it," Triple H interrupted, "This isn't healthy. You're drinking, and you've become a recluse. Shawn, what's next? Suicide?"

"Listen to me!" Shawn said, with a louder and angrier tone, "I don't need you telling me this crap! So she's dead! So what?! Now you think you can lecture me because you claim I can't cry? She's not gone forever!"

"Exactly…"

"Exactly what?!"

"Shawn, you're suicidal. You want to be with her again, and that's understandable, but I won't let you be another Chris Benoit. Look at Benoit! Look at Hart and Guerrero! What do they all have in common?"

Shawn didn't respond. He sat back down and grabbed another beer. He slowly motioned it towards his mouth, but at the last minute he couldn't drink any of it. He closed his eyes and probably for the first time, tears were streaming down his face. He put the beer down.

"I'm sorry. It was her time, but it's not mine. Just like it wasn't theirs… I won't be another Benoit."

Triple H let out a sigh of relief. He sat down next to Shawn and they remained silent for a long time. At long last, Shawn was able to pull himself back together and he turned on the TV. There was a replay of Smackdown on. Shawn watched the show for a few minutes until the part where they recapped the matches announced for Survivor Series.

"Is this what you came here for?" Shawn asked.

"Well, partially." Triple H answered.

"Hunter, I'm retired. That means for good. I'm not looking for a comeback career like you."

"That's ok, because it's just a one night thing. Shawn, we need you."

"I'm still not sure about that."

"C'mon, man. For old times sake?"

Shawn looked confused. He looked up at his wall. There were wrestling titles everywhere. There were posters, fan art, and other things. There was even a poster of the original DX from 1997. Shawn let out a sigh that indicated a lot of frustration.

"Count me in for Survivor Series." He said quietly.

Triple H let out a big laugh. Shawn joined in this time.

"You never let me rest in peace, do you?"

"That's The Undertaker's thing, not yours."

Author's note:

I do not mean any disrespect to the Hickenbottom family. Hopefully, they will remain together for a long time. This is purely fictional. Any event similar to this in reality is purely coincidential. On a side note; this is by far my favorite chapter since the Backlash chapter. Only 10 more chapters to go! 11 if you count the epilogue. This chapter was inspired by the movie "Rocky Balboa" by the way...for those wondering.

-Christian Orton


	28. Survival of the Fittest

Triple H sighed. He turned slightly to his left and saw the rest of DX getting ready. Jason Teague taped up his wrists and started leaning against the wall. The Robins were both on the floor, whilst the rest of the locker room was simply buzzing with excitement. This was the 33rd annual edition of Survivor Series. The tag line of the event was "All or nothing". This was the event that would shape the future of the WWE. Triple H took a sip of water and sat next to Jason. He looked down at his watch. Twenty minutes left to spare before it was their turn.

"Is he here yet?" Jason asked.

"No, but be patient. He will be." Triple H responded.

"Shawn Michaels…Wow, I can't believe we're gonna be wrestling with him." Kyle Robins said.

"Keep it down! We don't want everyone to know!" Kenny Robins said.

Triple H looked around. Everyone else was busy with their own problems. There were different teams, different factions and groups all over. With all the cliques and posses in WWE, the age of singles wrestling was practically gone. Everybody had a group, everybody except John Cena.

John Cena suddenly came into the room. From the moment he arrived, everybody stopped whatever they were doing and stared at him. Cena looked incredibly serious, even more than usual. People started whispering and pointing. Cena took one look at the locker room and left as quick as he arrived. Everybody else slowly started talking again.

"Hey, listen, I've got a question to ask you." Triple H said.

"Ok, shoot." Jason replied.

"What's up with Cena these days? The guy disappears for months and when he comes back it seems like everybody else hates him. What's his problem?"

"He's got a certain reputation…"

"For what exactly?"

"Well," Kyle interrupted, "People see him as a company man; he's in the McMahon's inner circle. Kinda like what Hulk Hogan was in the 1980's."

"So? That's a bad thing because?"

"People are jealous, plain and simple." Jason answered, "They want his success, and whenever he isn't around to help them, they get bitter. They say Cena will do anything to help this company."

"The exact opposite of Hush…" Triple H said to himself.

"Uh, did you just say something?"

"No, no, I was just talking to myself. Forget about it." He quickly said.

They waited until it was time for their match. There was no sign of Shawn Michaels anywhere. Hush and his teammates entered first. When it was time, they all made their entrance together.

"On their way to the ring, D-Generation X!" The ring announcer yelled.

"I thought he was on his way." Jason whispered to Triple H as they made their entrance.

"Ok, so maybe he's a little late. Give him a minute or two." Triple H responded.

They entered the ring and simultaneously, all four of them executed the infamous DX crotch chop, leading to several fireworks going off behind them in an X form. The crowd cheered them on as them continued to strut in the ring. After the DX music died down, the ECW theme music played and Hush and his men came down to the ring. Despite all his power, Hush didn't look too comfortable. In fact, he looked sick. Hush spat out some water as he entered the ring, probably to spite Triple H. Triple H glared at him, but Hush ceased to give eye contact. When all was said and done, the match was about to begin. As a young member of Hush' team entered the ring to start the match with Triple H, a familiar theme music began to play.

"It's about time, Shawn." Triple H said to himself.

Shawn Michaels came out to a standing ovation. He wore his cowboy hat proud and threw it towards the audience. He knelt down and prayed at the ramp as his pyro went off behind him. As he made his way down the ramp, confetti started to fall from the ceiling.

"I don't believe it! It's HBK!" Todd Grisham exclaimed at the announce table.

"We'll I'll be damned! The Heartbreak Kid, Shawn Michaels. He's the mystery partner for DX?!" Batista asked, equally puzzled.

"It looks like it partner. It's only fitting, the founding fathers of DX, teaming up with the next generation! I love it!" Grisham said.

Shawn got in the ring and hugged the rest of DX in the corner. He turned his attention to Triple H.

"You had me worried." Triple H said to him.

"You have ECW to thank for that." Shawn quietly answered.

"They ambushed you?"

"Yeah, asking for autographs. Who knew so many ECW superstars today were HBK fans when they were kids?!"

"You wanna start the match?"

"Do I!"

Triple H left the ring and went to the corner. It was up to Shawn Michaels to lead the way. The bell rang, officially starting the match. Shawn grappled with his opponent before executing a headlock takedown. His opponent grappled his way out of it, but Shawn caught him with an arm drag. As he got up, Shawn attacked with another arm drag. The ECW superstar got up and ran across the ropes, but his efforts were stopped by a drop-toe-hold by Shawn. Triple H let out a loud laugh. Shawn was simply playing with this kid. No fancy moves, just old school techniques.

"Mickey! Get over here and tag me in!" Hush yelled.

Mickey did as he was told and tagged Hush in. Hush glared at HBK and spat on his face. HBK retaliated by slapping him in the mouth. Hush kicked Shawn in the gut, and the action began. Hush was about fifty pounds heavier and at least four inches taller, but Shawn was able to keep up with him. Eventually, Shawn tagged in Jason, who took over. Jason fought with a few strikes to Hush's face, leading to some bruises and bleeding to Hush's mouth. Hush stumbled backwards and tagged in one of his teammates.

"Bring it on, assclown!" Jason taunted.

His opponent growled like a beast. Whilst Jason was distracted, another member of team ECW snuck up behind him and attacked. The entire DX team joined in, leading to Team ECW to attack as well. The ring was stage of a brutal brawl that eventually made its way to ringside. Triple H lead DX against ECW as the brawl began to escalate. Things settled down for a while after a double suicide moonsault from the top turnbuckles by the Robins.

Triple H picked himself up but felt a strong right hand to his face. Hush came swinging at him, singling him out. He felt blood flowing down his face. He blocked a stomp to his face and pushed Hush away with every ounce of strength he had. Hush turned away, only to be knocked out cold with Sweet Chin Music, courtesy of Shawn Michaels.

Back in the ring, Jason was getting his ass kicked. In the confusion following the brawl, another ECW superstar not involved with the match came to the ring and attacked Jason with a lead pipe. After a running flapjack finisher, Jason was knocked out.

"1!"

"2!"

"3...You're out!" the referee yelled.

"As a result of a pinfall, Jason Teague has been eliminated!" the ring announcer said.

"Looks like we're down to just four…" Shawn said, climbing back into the ring apron.

"We're gonna have to do this old school." Triple H responded, visibly more than a little pissed of.

Triple H charged into the ring and cleaned house. He unleashed clothesline after clothesline, leveling Team ECW to the ground. He identified the legal man and began pounding on him mercilessly. The man began to bleed, as Triple H hammered away at his skull.

"Oh God, please, have mercy!" The ECW superstar yelled.

"I…Am…The…Game!" Triple H yelled, as he Pedigreed the man on the mat for the pinfall.

"Dan Burton has been eliminated!" The announcer said, as referees helped Dan to his feet and back to the locker room.

Two large men jumped in and charged at Triple H, but they were stopped by simultaneous dropkicks by the Robins. The Robins held their own against the larger men and even managed to put them both in a Pedigree position. Another member of team ECW ran in for the save, but Triple H caught him and quickly put him in a Pedigree position. With the crowd cheering them on, Triple H and the Robins executed simultaneous Pedigrees on their opponents.

Only Hush was left standing in the corner. Triple H dared him to enter the ring when suddenly; several ECW superstars entered the ringside area from the crowd. They attacked Shawn Michaels and distracted Triple H long enough for Hush to attack him from behind with a steel chair. Triple H went down and was pulled down by the ECW superstars. He fell on the floor with a sickening thud. As he lay there, bruised and bloody, the ECW mob began to gang up on him and Shawn. Shawn was bleeding bad from his forehead and his nose. The ref began his count.

"1!"

"2!"

"3!"

"4!"

"Hunter! Get back in the ring! You're gonna get counted out!" Shawn yelled, breaking free of the ECW mob's grip and fighting back, brandishing a sledgehammer hidden underneath the ring.

Triple H struggled to get back, but he was too weak from the beating.

"9!"

"10…Triple H is out of the match!" the ref yelled.

"As a result of a count-out, Triple H has been eliminated from the match!"

Triple H groaned. He forced his way up the ring, but was pulled back by the referees. They dragged him backstage where they placed him in the locker room where a medical team was waiting.

"Just relax Hunter," the doctor said, "It's over now. We're gonna stop the bleeding and then afterwards, you're free to go."

Triple H didn't know what to say. He was still shaking with the adrenaline. He forced himself to sit down and let the medics tend to his wounds. As soon as they were done, he got up and turned on the TV. The ring was engulfed in chaos. The Robins had been taken out in his absence, but in return, Shawn eliminated all but two of Team ECW, making it a two on one handicap match. Triple H stared intently as Shawn fought a superstar possibly twenty years younger than him.

"There he goes!" Todd Grisham yelled in commentary, "Shawn Michaels scaling the top rope!"

"He's going for it! Elbow drop off the top rope!" Batista shot back.

"He's going for the pin, one! Two! No! It's only a two count!"

The crowd in the arena suddenly went nuts as the entire Raw and Smackdown locker room rushed down the ramp and battled against the entire ECW roster. As the battle raged, Shawn suddenly hit Sweet Chin Music for the elimination.

"He's done it! We're down to two! HBK and Hush!" Batista said.

As soon as Shawn got up, he was assaulted relentlessly by Hush. It looked like the match was about to end. Hush had just executed a picture-perfect superplex. He got up and surveyed the ramp. There were fist fights everywhere. It was exactly what he wanted: the WWE in total chaos. He turned to eliminate HBK, when his excitement turned to pure horror. Triple H was staring him down in the ring.

"What's he doing back in there?!" Grisham said, "He's been eliminated!"

"If my memory's correct, this match was made Extreme Rules match just before it went underway! Anything goes!" Batista answered.

Triple H held up his sledgehammer. Hush was already at a loss for words.

"Game over…" Triple H said.

With a single swift strike to the face, Hush went down. Not yet satisfied, Triple H picked up Hush and Pedigreed him before dragging Shawn on top of him. Three seconds later, it was all over.

"And the winners of this match, D-Generation X!" the announcer yelled.

The entire arena went into a frenzy. The fans erupted in applause as Triple H held up Shawn and celebrated. Shawn was a little bit stunned when he looked up and saw every Raw and Smackdown superstar enter the ring and lifted him up on their shoulders.

"Did we win?!" Shawn asked.

"Yeah, Shawn. We did." Triple H answered with a smile.

* * *

Author's note:

Brace yourselves for the most shocking revelations as we head towards WrestleMania and the last few chapters! We're almost there, don't leave me hanging! You won't regret reading his painfully long story to the very end. I promise. Please give reviews and feedbacks!

-Chris Orton


	29. Bombshell

Shane McMahon walked briskly down the hallway. He did not like his father's mood. He knew despite his failing health, Vince McMahon would never hand over the company to any of his children while he still draws breath. He glanced at his wristwatch and hastened his pace. He finally reached the end of the hallway and entered the board room. The board of directors were already gathered and at the end of the long oval table sat the chairman of World Wrestling Entertainment, Vincent Kennedy McMahon.

Shane flinched a little bit as his father slowly turned to face him. Vince never looked worse in his life. The proud muscular man was now a small weak creature. He had lost his hair entirely along with most of his muscle mass. To make things worse he was now confined to a wheelchair. Even though he seemed to have a hard time breathing, Vince mustered enough strength to glare at Shane and surprisingly, get up from his wheelchair. He struggled greatly and had to be helped back into his wheelchair. As he did so, he didn't take his angry eyes off Shane for a second.

"Gentlemen, sorry I'm late." Shane began, clearing his throat.

"Have you no concern for your father's health?" One of the board members replied, "A man his age shouldn't be dragging himself all the way up here for his son's incompetence!"

"Sorry you feel that way, however, if my father wanted to discuss something with me, he should've just called. It would've been easier on his part--"

"This concerns us all, Shane!" another board member yelled, "This company is about to embark on it's most important project and something you should've already taken care of is about to ruin it! Years of planning down the drain!"

"I am aware of that!" Shane said, his temper rising, "And I presume you have all have a plan?"

The board of directors sat in silence. Many of them looked as if they were in doubt. Some glared at him as intensely as his father did. Shane hated being scolded like this, but at the same time, he understood their concern. He was getting worried too. After a while, Vince McMahon finally spoke.

"In a troubled time like this, we all need to be united. This company has been in my family for four generations. It won't be long before I die, and when that comes I want to know if I'm passing it down to…capable leaders." He said, looking directly at Shane.

"Dad, listen, it's not like we haven't tried. We've sent our best agents. We've given them more control than ever. He's just not going down!"

"He'll never go away…He's family. Family that won't cooperate and he's dragging Stephanie down to his level."

"So what do you have in mind?"

"Discourage him. Let him know who his superiors are. If he won't do things our way, then he must be broken."

"He won't break."

Vince coughed violently. Shane rushed to his side, but Vince pushed him away. Shane backed away in disgust. The old man has too much pride for his own good. He struggled to regain his composure. The other board members simply stared at him in silence. They feared and respected his father too much to interfere. Even at his age, the all-powerful Vince McMahon still commanded a great deal of both.

"He will…" Vince said, "He has before. The fire in his eyes came back for some reason. That's why I had Stephanie removed from her position on Smackdown. He doesn't need anymore inspiration…and allies."

"She doesn't know about the project, does she?"

Vince shook his head. "No, not entirely. She knows that we're planning something, but what the details are and when we implement it is something that must be kept in the dark."

"Ok, so back to the problem at hand. What do you propose we do about it?"

"One word…" Vince said with a smile, "Escalation. We escalate things. When the days of the regional territories were waning, we escalated it and took the business to a national level. When the Monday Night War was at its peak, we escalated it and took our company to a new level…"

"The Attitude Era…" Shane said.

"Exactly. But beware, with escalation comes chaos and anarchy. You must learn to control the escalation, before it spirals out of control and it blows in your face!"

Vince continued to cough violently. Too violently, this time. His personal nurse wheeled him out of the room. As soon as he left, the other board members began to bicker amongst themselves. Shane then assumed his father's place and sat in his chair.

"Silence!" Shane yelled. The rest stared at him in curiosity.

"As we all know, the Royal Rumble is only three weeks away. After that the road to WrestleMania truly begins…"

Shane took out a cigar and lit it. He smoked it for a little while before pulling out a picture of Triple H from his jacket. He then burned the picture with the cigar.

"My father thinks we should escalate things. Make things worse before they get better. Well why not boys? Why not drop the biggest bombshell of them all and ride our way towards the history books."

Shane turned his back at them and smiled to himself.

"It's settled then."


	30. The Royal Rumble

Inside the Kiel Center in St. Louis, the crowd – 21,151 fans – was literally buzzing in anticipation. Tonight's event was gonna be a landmark. The 2021 Royal Rumble was the first pay-per-view event of the year, and it was an enormously hyped event to say the least.

Fans were still talking about the events that had taken place in the past four weeks. It was as if the wrestling world had yet to recover from the events of Survivor Series. The rate of gang warfare had increase dramatically. Groups and factions were feuding with one another; superstars invading other brands, etc. Yet ironically, the one man everybody seemed eager to take out was the one man responsible for ending Hush's reign as head of ECW: Triple H.

Triple H and DX were in the heart of every conflict. Every known faction and tag team seemed hesitant to side with them and quick to attack when necessary. Even the independent wrestlers seemed pissed at them. Some say they blame Triple H for the escalation of the wars. Others just want to make a name for themselves, and the best way to do that would be to take out the oldest faction still active in the WWE, DX, and its legendary founding father, Triple H.

That night, Triple H gathered them in his private dressing room. They were gonna come up with a game plan. One that would ensure their survival in tonight's Royal Rumble match. Every member of DX listened intently as Triple H began to lay out the plan.

"Gentlemen," Triple H began, "When I first saw you, you were rebels without a cause. You claimed to be DX, but there was something missing. I know, I could see it in your eyes. But over the last couple of months, you've proven yourselves to be tougher and more capable than even the original. You've earned the right to call yourselves degenerates."

The Robins, Kyle and Kenny, looked touched at this complement, whilst Jason and the other two members looked solemn. Triple H took a sip of water and cleared his throat.

"Tonight, we all know they're gonna be gunning for us. This company has been through chaotic periods, but none like this. This is anarchy. The McMahons have decided to let the inmates run the asylum. If we are gonna survive tonight then we have to watch each other's backs!"

"Until everybody else is gone?" Jason asked.

"Exactly. I don't know what's gonna happen out there, but we need to do this for our sakes. When it comes down to just the six of us, then all hell will break loose. I'd expect nothing less from you people." Triple H said.

For a while nobody spoke. Everyone was in deep thought. Triple H surveyed everyone in the room. Their faces expressed doubt and fear, but there was also a determination unlike anything he's ever seen.

He took off his D-Generation X t-shirt and laid it on the ground. Everybody stared at this gesture and then fixed their gaze on him. He nodded towards them, and immediately, they understood what it meant. Everybody stood up and in turn, took their shirts off and threw it into the ground, forming a pile of discarded DX shirts. They then shared one last group hug of brotherhood before releasing and parting ways for good.

Slowly, everybody left one by one. Only Jason and Triple H were left.

"This is it, huh? It's the end…" Jason said.

"It's better this way. If we continue to group together, they'll eventually find a way to destroy DX for good. If we separate and go our separate ways then maybe they'll lose track and leave us alone." Triple H said, as he taped his fists.

"What happens after this?"

"Go live your life and concentrate on your career. Alone. This will be the final death of DX. WWE now has one less faction to control."

"I see…good luck tonight Hunter." Jason said and left.

Triple H remained a little bit longer and warmed up. He did push-ups and shadow boxed. When he finally left the room, the hallway outside was eerily quiet. He made his way to the gorilla position and waited for the bell to ring. Earlier in a raffle, he had drawn Entry # 1 in the Royal Rumble match. Triple H grunted and listened to the ring announcer as he said the instructions of the Rumble match out loud. He heard the bell ring and soon after, his music played.

"Showtime…"he said to himself.

He made his way out and did his usual entrance. He waited in the ring until he heard the entrance theme of Reid Flair, Ric Flair's son. Reid made his simple but elegant entrance, looking every bit like his father as he did. Reid got in the ring and the match officially began.

They locked up and chain wrestled for a while. Reid definitely had his father's skills in the ring, as far as Triple H could tell. After ninety seconds, another entry came in the form of Ted DiBiase, Jr. Within twenty minutes, nearly half of the participants had come and gone. Jason came in at # seven whilst two other members of DX had broken the pact and eliminated each other. Triple H looked pitifully at them as they tumbled into the ground.

The fans watched silently in anticipation as the match began to end. In more than forty-five minutes, Triple H had survived and had eliminated eight superstars. Jason ended up being eliminated by a certain tag team from ECW and Kenny Robins had just arrived at Entry # 27. Although heavily fatigued, Triple H summoned enough strength to Pedigree another hapless superstar and eliminated him from the match.

"You're too old for this shit. Quit while you're ahead!" His doctor exclaimed.

Triple H shook his head. He was hallucinating again. After a second or two, his doctor morphed into Shawn Michaels.

"You're not gonna win this one, but I'm gonna pray for you anyway!" Shawn said optimistically.

"Wooo!" Ric Flair said. Now he knew he was losing it.

"Why'd you eliminate my boy, Reid? And where the hell did I put my Viagra?!" Flair said as he stooped down, searching for his Viagra.

Shawn laughed and patted Ric on his back. Slowly, the two hallucinations began to fade and then transformed into a young, menacing version of Vince McMahon.

"It's all about the money! Hahaha!" Vince said, taunting Triple H with a rubbing-invisible-money-in-his-hand-type of gesture. Vince approached Triple H and sat down next to him.

"You know, my son's gonna screw you out of a victory tonight. Just though you should – Hey!" Vince exclaimed as Eddie Guerrero pick-pocketed his wallet.

"Orale, ese! C'mon holmes! You can do it, vato! I know you can! Just remember ,Triple H, if you're not cheating, you're not trying!" Eddie said gleefully as Vince chased him around the ring.

Triple H watched in confusion as he continued to hallucinate Eddie and Vince running around the ring with Owen Hart at the background yelling, "Enough is Enough!"

Triple H got up and waved his arms around. Slowly, the visions in his head faded away completely. When he came to, only he, Kenny and Kyle Robins were in the ring, with the two brothers busy double-teaming another superstar out of the ring.

"What happened? What's going on?" Triple H, mostly to himself.

"Well, you kinda went crazy for a moment and sat down in the corner all by yourself and starting talking loudly about McMahon's money or something like that." Kyle said, matter-of-factly.

"Oh and Kyle came in at #30. So I guess it's down to just us then." Kenny said.

"I guess the pact is done, right?" Kyle turned to his brother.

"Yeah…pretty much."

Within a second, Triple H received two dropkicks from the brothers. He laid there on the mat as the two began to brutally beat him. Picking him up, the two brothers proceeded to throw him out of the ring. As he fell, Triple H held on to the top rope, making sure his feet did not touch the ground. He turned and got back in. The Robins were already fighting against each other. Triple H waited patiently as they slowly moved towards the ropes. Then, in a flash, he ran towards them and clotheslined them both out of the ring.

Triple H dropped down on his knees and raised his arms in victory.

"Here is your winner and the 2021 Royal Rumble winner, Triple -- "

"Wait, wait, wait! Hold on a minute!"

Triple H turned towards the Titantron, where the voice was coming from. Live from WWE Headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut was none other than Shane McMahon himself.

"Now, Hunter, I guess you think you've won, right? Am I right?" Shane said with a devious smile.

"Well you're wrong. As of this moment, my father has officially retired and the reason I am not there personally is because he called me here in his office to officially make me his successor. In other words, I am the new Chairman of World Wrestling Entertainment."

Triple H couldn't believe what he heard. And neither did the fans. Everybody was stunned.

"And for my first act as Chairman, I have decreed that this match continue, with a special Entry # 31."

The Titantron went blank and suddenly, a familiar entrance music blasted through the speakers, its hip hop beat echoing throughout the arena.

"Cena…" Triple H said in horror.

It didn't take long for the match to end, however, as Triple H was quickly blindsided and eliminated from behind. He tumbled to the ground and for a moment, he felt like the most defeated man in the world. He got up and stared into the eyes of the man who had seemingly shocked the world and betrayed him.

In the ring, John Cena showed no remorse in his eyes. He came through the audience and eliminated Triple H from behind. Even in his victory, there was no sense of triumph or even a bit of happiness in his face. Just a calm but intense look that gave Triple H Goosebumps. Cena pointed upwards. Triple H followed his direction and saw the WrestleMania XXX8 logo. Suddenly, he knew what Cena wanted, and he nodded in response.

It all comes down to the grandest stage of them all: WrestleMania. A showdown between The Game and The Doctor of Thuganamics was inevitable.

* * *

Author's note:

Sorry for the late update...I was really busy with my College finals. I plan to wrap this story up within the next two weeks or so, so please just bear with me. I knwo people haven't been checking this fanfic out lately. I don't really know why, maybe they lost interest in it already, maybe its too long for them, or maybe my writing just started to suck. Idk. So for those who are still reading and following my updates, then thank you. We've made it this far, so don't bail on me now. Thanks a lot.

-Chris Orton.


	31. Conspiracy Revealed

The announcement made at the end of the Royal Rumble pay-per-view shocked the entire wrestling world. Vincent Kennedy McMahon, the father of modern wrestling, had finally retired and passed the torch on to his son, Shane. Many so-called wrestling insiders claimed that they had been expecting this move for months. Some of the family's closest friends and confidants claimed that they too were aware of the elder McMahon's plans to retire. Their claims, however, were rooted in lies.

Truth be told, nobody knew except McMahon and his son. Even his wife, Linda and his daughter, Stephanie was taken by surprise. They all expected Vince to die as the chairman, and they all knew he was too stubborn to die just yet.

They all had to accept it; World Wrestling Entertainment was under a new face of authority. Shane McMahon promised to revolutionize Pro Wrestling and take it further than ever before. He demonstrated his new power by making the controversial decision to allow John Cena to be the first ever Entry # 31 in the Royal Rumble. The Rumble Match itself marked the beginning of a new era for the WWE. One man, among many, was displeased with what had happened and sought to personally get some answers.

"Are we there yet?" Triple H said, jerking uncomfortably in his seat.

"We're pulling up in the corporate parking lot right now." Dave Batista answered.

"Good. Stop the car."

"I should probably tell you, this isn't such a good idea."

"Dave, let me worry about the repercussions, all right?"

Batista sighed, "Okay, fine. You wanna ride home too?"

"You sound like a douche bag when you say that. Just drop me off here, and where's the damn camera?"

"It's already planted in the office. When you get in Shane's office, I'll sneak into the surveillance system and start taping."

"And it's gonna air live on RAW? It starts in an hour."

"Yeah, just like we talked about. You better get in quick."

"I will," Triple H replied, sounding confident, "Wish me luck."

Triple H got out of the car and marched towards the headquarters of WWE. As soon as he got in, the receptionist got off the phone and began alerting security. Triple H glanced at her and smiled casually. He took a sharp right turn and hid inside a broom closet. Within a few seconds, a group of security guards came rushing towards the lobby. As soon as they were gone, Triple H got out and entered the elevator.

As the elevator slowly made its way up to the top floor, where the chairman's office was clearly located, Triple H used this time to think about what he was going to say to the new chairman. He smiled at the thought of having to beat up Shane in his own office, but Batista was right. That type of behavior would only get him fired. He needed to approach the situation in a different manner.

The moment he got out of the elevator, the many employees and workers stationed there all stopped what they were doing and attempted to restrain him. He simply pushed them aside, which was no easy feat, considering that the very moment he got there was also the time the security guards from before also arrived.

"Sir, please come with us." A security guard said.

"I just need to talk to someone." Triple H answered quickly.

"The chairman and the board of directors are in a meeting. We've been given direct orders to expel anyone who would interfere out of the building."

"Get the fuck out of my way, man!" Triple H said, his temper rising, "I beat people up for a living!"

"Hunter!" said a familiar voice.

Shane was standing outside his office door, with a Cuban cigar at hand.

"It's ok, gentlemen. We've been expecting Mr. Hemsley for quite some time now." Shane said.

The guard, still glaring at Triple H signaled to the others to let him go. Triple H shifted his gaze from the guards to Shane himself. Shane walked inside calmly and opened the door for him. When he got there, Triple H was surprised to see that the 'meeting' he had expected to see was actually just between Shane, Vince and his personal nurse who wheeled him around in a wheelchair.

"So, what do you want to know?" Shane asked.

"Everything," Triple H replied.

"Everything? That's a lot to discuss, don't you think?"

"I want answers, Shane…or am I gonna have to beat them out of you?"

"No need for that here," Shane said, putting out his cigar, "Because we're gonna tell you everything anyway. All I ask is that you sit down and relax. This could take a while."

Triple H didn't move a muscle. Shane sighed and sat down in his chair beside his father.

"Or you could just stand. Your choice."

Triple H looked around the room uneasily. There was something about it that he didn't specifically like. There was an odd odor about. It was making him dizzy, so dizzy that he involuntarily stepped back and sat down.

"See dad, he's not such an unreasonable dickhead after all." Shane said.

Vince grunted in response. Shane looked disgusted and turned to Triple H.

"I know what I did was unfair and controversial, but it wasn't anything personal, really. After all, you are my brother-in-law. It was simply business."

"Business?!" Triple H said, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"It's no secret that the popularity of this company and professional wrestling in general has waned over the years. Wrestling has changed. The fans have changed. In order for us to survive and more importantly, thrive in this new age is to adapt to these changes." Shane said.

"After the incident involving the Benoit family back in 2007, everyone has been watching us like a hawk. The media was criticizing every move we made, hell even the goddamn congress was snooping around, looking for something to blame on us."

Beside him, Vince started making weird sounds. They all turned to him, and it was apparent that he had soiled himself. He started coughing again, and Shane gestured toward the nurse to remove him from the room.

"Since then, we began experiencing possibly the worst point of our company's history." Shane continued, "TNA had it easy. They weren't known for pushing big guys anyway. The Japanese, the Mexicans, they all had it easy. They were out of the congress' jurisdiction."

Shane got up and began pacing as he spoke. "With no one else to turn to, guess who took the fall…us," he said bitterly.

Triple H was at a loss for words. He was still trying to figure out what everything meant, and what it had to do with him.

"We were losing viewers and money. The fans we still had after the Benoit accident slowly started to get smaller and smaller. They blamed it on bad promoting and stale storylines. Wrestling itself was about to die. TNA was losing fans, everybody was losing fans."

Shane lit another cigar and looked out the window. At this point, he was talking more to himself than he was to Triple H.

"We needed a plan. Something to catch people's attention. So we recalled back to a more successful era in our industry. The 90's."

"The Attitude Era?!" Triple H finally spoke.

"Yes…" Shane said, as he blew a puff of smoke out of his mouth. "The Attitude Era was the most successful era in the history of pro wrestling. We needed it. We needed to recapture the essence of that long-lost time. But we knew we could never duplicate it."

Shane sat back down and took out a dossier from his drawer. He stared at it for some time before handing it over to Triple H.

"But we could come close."

"How?"

"Through anarchy," Shane replied, "The Monday Night Wars was all about anarchy. The Ministry of Darkness, The New World Order, The Corporation and DX…need I continue? Everybody chose a side and it was a full scale war. That's what we needed. Suspense and action like never before. Why do you think there are so many factions theses days?"

"You allowed that to happen!" Triple H said, "You made the WWE what it is today!"

"My father did that…I'm just finishing up the work that he began. WWE superstars need factions these days. It keeps them organized and disciplined. Of course, not everyone thinks so. But that's okay, because sometimes people just need to be pushed, or rather, shoved towards the right direction."

"What do you mean?"

"We have agents operating as superstars. They are handpicked by us personally. They're either the sons and daughters of former talent, or simply people we've come to rely on. They start the fires and they fuel the conflicts. They pick fights, create factions, and then instigate total war. On our orders of course."

"You're mad."

"Name calling? That's not your style, Hunter. I'm disappointed."

"We had this plan for years, but due to setbacks and other problems, it was only realized three years ago." Shane said, "Everybody was kept in the dark. Our agents do as they're told, but they don't know anything, honestly. The Board of Directors, mother, father, myself and the General Managers are the only ones who really know…except Stephanie, for obvious reasons."

"Stephanie doesn't know?" Triple H said in a surprised tone.

"She's involved with you, and needless to say, you don't really have a stellar record with my family. Hell, you never cooperate, and you're impossible to control. Ever since you came back, you've become an increasing threat."

"Christ…"

"I know, sad isn't it?" Shane said sarcastically, "That's why we had her removed when you were hired. We couldn't afford her interfering with our plans. She's a McMahon, she's smart. She would've found out anyway."

"Then why not just fire me and be done with it?"

"Because you're popular, let's face it, there's no denying that. People pay to see you. See, we're not evil, just good businessmen. And you made yourself useful too."

"Oh yeah, how?"

"Some people eventually found out. One of them was Randy Orton. He didn't approve of what we did, and he's been opposing us ever since. Why, just a couple of months ago, he was in Japan, recruiting some Japanese wrestlers to his cause. And that's where you came in. We knew he couldn't resist fighting you, and to our advantage, you took him out. Thank you, Triple H."

Triple H couldn't believe what he just heard. Orton? Of all the people he expected to fight against the McMahons, Orton was definitely the last person he could think of.

"Real clever," Triple H said, "And what about your little dog? The one you've been saving for a special occasion?"

"Dog? What dog are we talking about here?" Shane said, legitimately confused.

"John Cena. What did you have to do to get him to attack me like that?"

"Oh, it didn't take much. Believe me." A voice behind Shane said.

John Cena stepped out of the shadows. There was no humor in his eyes. He looked dead serious.

"Triple H, I told you to quit while you were ahead. But did you listen to me?" John Cena asked, before shaking his head, "No. You did not."

"I though you said you were gonna stay out of this." Shane said in a small whisper.

"He needs to know." Cena said, "I attacked you because I care – no, not for you! Don't give me that look! I did it for the company. Everything was my idea. I proposed everything to Mr. McMahon. This whole thing is my way of keeping sports entertainment alive."

"You lousy motherf-"

"Don't even go there!" Cena interrupted him, "I've been with this company through good times and bad. When Vince gave me the go-ahead to carry his company on my back when I first became WWE Champion, I promised that I wouldn't let him down. And I didn't. I'll do whatever's necessary to keep this company alive."

"So what do you want from me then?" Triple H demanded.

"One match. WrestleMania. I'm giving up the title shot I earned at the Royal Rumble to fight you. If you lose, you're out for good!"

"I accept!" Triple H rashly said.

"Shane! Shane!" Jonathan Coachman said, suddenly bursting in, "You've been taped!"

"What?"

"Your little 'meeting' is all over RAW. Someone must've bugged your office." Coach said.

Shane looked furiously at Triple H. He stood up and was about to lunge at him, when Coach stopped him and added, "Batista isn't on RAW tonight."

Shane was beyond upset. He turned his desk over and yelled at Coach to leave. He then turned to Triple H.

"Tell your friend Batista that he's fired. And as for your match at WrestleMania, it's on. Now get the hell out of my office!"

Triple H left and took another glance at Shane's office. Shane was throwing everything he had on the ground, while Cena just stood there, still staring at him intensely.

"WrestleMania." Cena mouthed, before shutting the door completely.

* * *

Author's note:

Wooo! man, you don't know how long I've waited to write this chapter! Only a couple of more left to go. hang in there, thanks!

-Chris Orton.


	32. Final Training

Two months has passed since Triple H marched up to Titan Towers and learned the truth about everything. Due to the cunning plan of both himself and Batista, the entire conspiracy was at last revealed to the world. The McMahons, to their credit, denied nothing. A week after that segment was aired on RAW, the new chairman, Shane McMahon, held a press conference to clear up any misconceptions. According to the reports, the conspiracy was under the name "Project Attitude" and was being developed for years. Originally conceived by John Cena, the project was WWE's way to staying dominant, at least that's what McMahon claimed.

The response to Project Attitude varied. Many traditionalists and old school wrestlers condemned The McMahons for using deceit and the direct manipulation of their superstars to create quality television. Some people praised them, citing that after more than a decade; WWE has finally stepped up and gave the fans what they've been wanting for: risqué and cutting edge storylines. As if it was just a storyline.

Despite an epic background to their encounter, the true story was Cena vs. HHH. Cena, now revealed to be the chief conspirator along with the McMahons was hated passionately by people who viewed him as a traitor. Triple H was given the full support of the fans and the entire WWE locker room. Despite the revelation, the in-ring wars that ravaged the wrestling world did not fade, but on the contrary, intensified. No longer manipulated by the management, the superstars not only fought against each other, but began an open rebellion against authority. The wrestling world was now filled with numerous factions and cliques that, not only had their own agendas, but also the intention to overthrow what they perceived was an evil empire.

That did not make Triple H's job any easier.

It was March 29, 2021. The man they called The King of Kings was back to where his second career began: Mick Foley's basement. Triple H had been training for weeks. His career was on the line, and he took it upon himself to heal the damage that his extended family had done to the wrestling industry, starting off with the destruction of John Cena.

"Easy there! Nice and easy." Foley said, as he helped Triple H push the bar back.

"You've been hitting the weights all week. Let's go get dinner. All work and no play -"

"We can 'play' when WrestleMania is over, Mick," Triple H replied, "Right now; I got more important things to worry about."

Mick didn't say anything. Triple H was right. WrestleMania was just this Sunday, and he was gambling everything in what was possibly the most important match of his life. Mick pulled up a chair and sat in front of Triple H. He was sweating like hell.

"Let's go over the techniques again. I wanna get it right this time."

"Absorb the blow, and then counter with the knee," Mick said.

"Right, so how about we try it again?"

Mick sighed, "All right, get up."

They both got up and went into position. Triple H clenched his fists and readied himself in his stance. Foley did the same and then quickly threw a punch towards his face. Triple H lifted his arms in defense, but he was too late. The punch connected and sent him reeling back a couple of steps. He collected himself and got back into position. Foley threw another punch, which he was able to partially block. He knelt down and spat blood.

"Again?"

"Again…"

"Get it right this time." Foley said, throwing a stiff right hand towards Triple H.

Triple H leaned back and turned his head sideways and absorbed the blow to his cheeks. As Foley leaned forward, his own momentum betraying him, Triple H quickly give him a knee to the crotch. The move was done so quickly that a third-party observer would've missed it and mistook it for a knee to the gut instead.

Foley fell down, and Triple H ceased his attack. After a moment of pain, Foley shot him a crooked smile.

"Good job…I guess." He said.

Foley grabbed his chair and sat on it. He looked exhausted.

"Remember what I taught you. Hardcore wrestling isn't just about the weapons. It's about being practical and relying on your instincts."

"Which means?"

"Fight dirty," Foley said, smiling broadly, "But in a subtle matter."

"You think the ref will miss that?"

"Oh yeah, definitely. Just remember, where strength and power fails -"

"Mind and the power to survive will succeed," Triple H finished, "God, you sound like a McMahon when you say that."

"But it makes sense when you think about it."

They didn't speak for a long time. Triple H looked out the window and into the rainy Long Island lawn of the Foleys. He gazed back into the room and noticed that it was a lot less cheerful since last time. The Christmas decorations were gone. The wrestling paraphernalia was taken down. It all looked so grim and bleak. Just like Wrestling's future.

"Mick?"

"Yeah, what is it?"

"After you left for TNA, what happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, what was it like? The atmosphere, the environment, everything! Was everything really that bad?"

"Things are only as bad as you perceive them to be, Hunter. When I first got there, it was a brand new day. A clean slate where I could start over. The Jarretts welcomed me with open arms, and for a while, I thought of them as family."

"What made you come back?"

"The fans,"

"Huh?"

"The fans, Hunter, the fans. I certainly didn't go back to WWE to get in Vince's good graces, aw hell no. I went back because my fans wanted me too and they would've wanted me to be inducted in the Hall of Fame. That's the reason why Bret Hart came back after the Montreal Incident. It's the same reason why I agreed to be inducted. The fans."

"It seems to me that if the fans didn't complain so much in the first place, we wouldn't be in this mess."

"They complain, and they demand things," Foley rambled on, "But does anybody really know what they want? I don't think so. The fans don't know and neither does the McMahons."

"But Cena…"

"I was at home the day Cena first debuted on Smackdown all those years ago. I watched him grow from a wet-behind-the-ears rookie into a WWE Champion. But what we saw wasn't the real Cena. What we saw was a man who had so much love for the business and when he saw the fans displeased and didn't know what to do, it ate him up inside." Foley said in a soft and somewhat sad voice.

"It all started with the fans booing him left and right, despite what he was doing for them. Didn't it occur to you how much that bothered him? Well, frankly, because of his upbeat attitude, I guess it never occurred to anybody."

"Thanks for your time." Triple H said, getting up.

"Where you going?" Foley asked.

"I don't know, but I have a lot to think about."

"You wanna train again tomorrow?"

"Naw…I'm good. See you at WrestleMania, Mick…you are going right?"

"Ringside seats…"

"Good. Thank you."

Just like that, Triple H picked up his bags and left Foley's basement. As he walked out the door, he felt his face hurt and every inch of his body ache. It didn't matter to him though. As he left the house and wandered into the rain, he threw his bags down and took a stroll down the street, unsure of where to go and what to do.

Nobody saw Triple H until Sunday, April 4, 2021. WrestleMania day.

* * *

Author's note:

Brace yourselves for the 2-part/chapter epic climax!(it's not the end. There are still two more chapters after this and then an epilogue).

up next: Cena vs HHH, part one.

Cena vs HHH, part two.

coming soon: Aftermath.

Anarchy rules (final chapter)

Epilogue.


	33. Cena vs HHH, part 1

"He's here! He's here, everybody!" A crew worker yelled.

Everybody turned their heads towards the door as Triple H entered the room. He disappeared for four days without telling anybody where he was or when he was coming back. In fact, people were scared he wasn't gonna show up for WrestleMania at all.

Triple H took off his shades and flashed a smile. He was finally clean shaven for the first time since his second honeymoon and he felt at peace with himself. People around him sighed and expressed their relief. Others were pissed, and he could swear he saw a guy pay another guy a couple of bucks the moment he entered. Must've been a bet or something.

"Where the hell have you been?" Stephanie said, walking briskly down the hall.

"Oh, I spent the rest of the week at Ric's house and then spent all of yesterday at Undertaker's" He said casually.

"And It would've killed you to call?"

"Ric doesn't pay his phone bills and Mark's got this Deadman thing going…It freaks me out."

"Why would you just leave without saying something?"

"Geez, I just wanted to get away from everything and calm my mind…Remember 2001, when I lost to Taker at WrestleMania, and I didn't turn up for a week?"

"That was different. Tonight your career is on the line."

"Have you spoken to your father?"

"No," Stephanie said softly, "He's been ill…he can't do anything except crap in his chair…"

"I'm winning tonight," Triple H said confidently, "Don't worry about a thing."

"Okay, well I guess you have to prepare now. I'll be here if you need me."

Stephanie left and Triple H went inside the locker room. The place was packed with superstars. But unlike the usual racket, people were quiet and solemn. It was WrestleMania and nobody wanted to mess up. Triple H walked passed them and did his usual pre-match rituals. Minutes passed, and slowly superstars began to leave the room. They had a TV in the room, but Triple H didn't dare to watch anything. He just had to focus. When the last person left, he took out a photo from his wallet.

The photo was of Killer Kowalski and himself during his first day of training. At the back, Kowalski had written, "To Paul: You've got the pedigree of a champion. Go kill 'em." Triple H fought back tears and said a prayer to his late trainer. The truth was, he wasn't at Ric's or at Taker's. He was visiting his old mentor's grave. He went down to Malden, Massachusetts and rented a hotel room where he stayed for a couple of days.

"Wish me luck tonight, Walter." Triple H said, teary-eyed.

Despite the obvious hype, their match wasn't on the Main Event. It was the 3rd to the last match, with only the WWE and World Heavyweight Championship matches going after them. Triple H readied himself backstage when some crew workers pulled him aside. They wanted him to do a special entrance for tonight. Triple H nodded in agreement.

"Sure, why not? It doesn't really matter anyway." Triple H said.

"Cool. You're really gonna love this." The crew worker said enthusiastically.

Soon, it became apparent what they meant. Thousands of people in attendance as well as the millions around the world was anticipating the historic confrontation. The lights suddenly went out, causing the entire arena to erupt in screams and cheers. A large symbol appeared on the Titantron, one that was eventually replaced by the vintage DX symbol and eventually a skull with a blood-stained crown on it.

"Are you ready?" The voice of Chris Warren could be heard, echoing throughout the arena.

Immediately after that, a loud generic theme began to play, one that resembled the instrumentals of "The Game" by Motorhead, but despite that, a constant chant could be heard throughout the theme, one that said "Bow down" and "King of Kings".

"One, Two, this on?"

"Yo, jimmy, hit me with that Triple H…"

"Yeah, you keep the music playin' Mr. dunn…"

Triple H's actual music, "My Time", began to play while the lights remained dim. A large throne emerged on the ramp. Triple H got up and raised his sledgehammer up high. As he crossed his arms, the green DX pyro blasted behind him. He made his way down the ramp and climbed up the ring apron. He spat out some water and as he did so, major pyro went out from above and started raining down on the ring.

"They certainly know how to make me an entrance." Triple H said to himself, grinning.

As soon as the pyro died down, a familiar entrance theme played. Two long lines of men wearing riot gear suddenly surrounded the ramp. At first nothing seemed special until the fans in the Citrus Bowl began pointing up. A large black helicopter was hovering above the open arena. It gently lowered itself in the middle of the ramp. A rope ladder was thrown out and John Cena maneuvered his way down as the Black helicopter disappeared into the night. Despite the fan's clear favoritism towards Triple H, even they had to admit that it was one hell of an entrance.

Cena quickly made his way to the ring and for a while, everyone was silent. Triple H looked up into the stars and smiled, knowing his mentor was watching from above. And he truly was. Mick Foley apparently paid some guys to fly a blimp over the arena with the message, "Good luck, Hunter! Have a Nice day! –Mick"

Triple H chuckled. He stared at Cena across the ring and all the humor in him suddenly left.

"In this corner," The announcer began, "From Greenwich, Connecticut…weighing in at 270 pounds! He is The Game, The Cerebral Assassin, The King of Kings! He is Triple H!"

Triple H raised his hands in acknowledgement.

"And his opponent, from West Newbury, Massachusetts…weighing in at 255 pounds! He is the doctor of thuganomics, The chain gang commander, He is John Cena!"

Cena did his word life gesture. Some fans cheered. The rest booed.

"Just like old times, huh?" Triple H yelled.

"Naw, things ain't ever gonna be the same." Cena shot back.

The bell rang, officially starting the match. Cena and Triple H circled the ring, neither man taking their eyes off each other. Suddenly, they locked up. Even then, they stared at each other intensely. Then came the test of strength. Triple H took a deep breath and pushed as hard as he could. But Cena was stronger. He quickly pushed Triple H down.

"Come on, man! Focus!" Cena yelled.

They locked up again, but this time Triple H had him in a side headlock. Cena powered his way out and knocked him down with a shoulder block. Triple H did a kip up and landed a punch at Cena's face. It became an all-out brawl before being separated by the referee.

"He's a lot tougher…" Triple H thought. He eyed Cena from head to foot, and the man was ripped.

"But nobody's invincible," He said to himself.

He kicked Cena in the knee and threw a forearm to the back of Cena's head. He began performing some of the boxing and the striking combos he learned at Mick's basement, and it worked. Cena was caught off guard for a while. As Cena remained stunned, Triple H ran towards the ropes, bounced off it and executed a clothesline. Cena noticed it in time and evaded the attack. He grabbed Triple H from behind and performed a German Suplex.

"Oh fuck…" Triple H thought as he felt an excruciating pain in his neck.

He picked himself up but Cena knocked him back down with his own clothesline. He never got the chance to retaliate. Cena picked him up and gave him a Spinebuster, not once, not twice, but thrice in a row. Triple H struggled just to even breathe. If that wasn't enough, Cena wanted to end things right then and there and applied the STF-U on him. Triple H struggled to get free, but Cena's arms were wrapped too tightly around his neck.

"Hang in there Hunter!" Jeff Hardy said, suddenly appearing in front of him.

"Not again…" Triple H thought as he tried not to hallucinate.

"To the extreme yo!" Matt Hardy said, appearing beside Jeff.

Both of them disappeared and were replaced by The New Age Outlaws, Billy Gunn and the Road Dogg.

"You're still wrestling at your age?" Billy said in disbelief, "What the f-"

"You an embarrassment, man!" Road Dogg said, "Just tap out and leave. We did."

As the hallucinations in his head bid him goodbye, Triple H knew he was fading. And suddenly, the world around him turned black.

* * *

_to be continued..._


	34. Cena vs HHH, part 2

Triple H is fading. John Cena has the STF-U locked in tight. The referee runs to his side and checks on him. Triple H could barely hear the referee's words. The pressure on his neck was almost too great to bear, and he was about to pass out from the pain. He felt the ref grab his arm, lift it up and then drop it to the ground.

"One!" The referee yelled.

The ref grabbed his arm and dropped it for a second time.

"Two!"

The referee grabbed his hand for a third time, but rather instinctively, before it could touch the ground, Triple H was able to lift it back up. Suddenly fully conscious, Triple H tried his best to break Cena's grip. After several futile attempts, he figured it was best to just grab the bottom rope. Either that, or tap out. Pulling himself towards the bottom rope was no easy task; the feeling in his arms was slowly leaving him and they were in the middle of the ring. After forcefully dragging himself and Cena a few feet towards the rope, Cena released the hold.

Triple H clutched his neck and desperately gasped for air. He thought, perhaps, that Cena released the hold out of mercy. That was not the case. Cena stood over him like a giant and after allowing Triple H to recuperate for a while; he dragged Triple H back into the middle of the ring and applied the hold.

"Just tap out, Hunter," Cena whispered into his ear, "Just end it now."

But there was no quit in Triple H's mind. He realized that Cena was unlike any opponent he had ever faced. He was stronger and better than anyone. Randy Orton and Hush were insects in comparison to Cena's toughness and strength. But nobody was invincible, and even Cena was just human. He quickly poked his thumb into Cena's eye long enough for him to be released. As Cena was preoccupied with his eye, Triple H dragged himself to the ropes and used it to pull himself up.

"Fight dirty but subtly," He said to himself.

Cena turned to face him but was quickly nailed with a running high knee to the face. He heard a crack and felt Cena's nose break. Triple H smiled. That's what he wanted to hear. With blood streaming down the lower part of Cena's face, he quickly applied a sleeper hold.

The fans cheered like crazy as Triple H cinched in the hold tightly, only for Cena to lift him on his back and slam him down to the mat. Both of them got up at the same time and as Triple H charged towards him, Cena countered with an arm drag. Triple H fell on his hips hard.

"C'mon, Hunter, that's child's play!" Cena taunted.

"Maybe, maybe not!" Triple H said, as he got up and broke Cena's grip. He twisted Cena's arm and after a quick kick to the gut, went for a DDT.

Triple H felt his sides hurt. He could swear one of his ribs was already broken. Now it was payback time. He applied a Figure Four Leg Lock on Cena and leaned back sadistically. Cena let out a scream out of pain, and Triple H loved every minute of it. Fortunately for Cena, they were near the ropes and he was able to get a hold of it. Forced to release the hold, Triple H dragged Cena back to the middle of the ring and applied his own version of the STF-U.

"That the best you can do?" Cena said, half-laughing, "Well I can do better."

Surprisingly, Cena was able to break Triple H's grip almost immediately and got up. He took Triple H down in an amateur wrestling style fashion and quickly applied an ankle lock.

"You trained with Foley for this?" Cena said in disbelief, "Well I went to Kurt Angle. I'd pick the bald dude any day."

"You're no Kurt Angle, and I was kicking his ass back when you were still a school boy." Triple H replied.

He reversed Cena's ankle lock and threw Cena to the corner. Charging head-first into Cena's ribs, Triple H rammed into it repeatedly. Cena was visibly dazed. Triple H unleashed a barrage of fists that left the both of them breathless. He Irish-whipped Cena into the opposite corner, but Cena reversed it and bounced off the ropes and speared him.

"I just heard two ribs crack…and I can do this all day long." Cena said ruthlessly.

"You sold us out!" Triple H yelled, "You chose the McMahons over the boys in the locker room! What were you thinking? You power-hungry bastard!"

"It was a hard choice, but maybe after this you'll learn to get over it."

"There is nothing after this! If I go out, I'm going out in a blaze of glory, even if I have to take you down with me. I've become a political liability, and you! You're a joke!"

"Hunter, I just broke three of your ribs." Cena said is disbelief.

Triple H didn't respond. Instead he threw the hardest punch he could and followed it with a flurry of lefts and rights. Cena fell backwards, but he wasn't done yet. He fought back with punches that could've taken out an average man. Their wrestling match just became a fight, pure and simple.

They took each other down with every hold they could think off. Triple H would bite off Cena's fingers, while Cena would headbutt Triple H as hard as he could. Both of them struggled to stand. They were now leaning against each other. Cena was starting to finally weaken. He threw the next punch. Next thing he knew, Triple H's lip was busted wide open. Triple H countered the punch; more blood started to flow from Cena's already broken nose. They traded punches until exhaustion hit them both. Their legs were failing them. Cena leaned forward with one last punch, but Triple H leaned back and turned his head slightly to the side. The moment Cena's fist touched his cheek, Triple H countered with a knee to the crotch.

Everything was in slow motion to them now. Cena bent over and held himself with pain. Triple H instinctively placed his head in between his legs and hooked his arms for the Pedigree. All it took was one Pedigree.

"One!"

"Two!"

"Three!"

The bell rang and the crowd was on its feet. Triple H won, but he felt no elation. Just a feeling of peace that suddenly took over. The referee helped him to his feet and raised his hand in victory. Triple H managed a small smile. He looked at the crowd and saw that everything was worth it. The fans knew they had just seen a classic match. He knew the boys at the back were just as happy. He looked down at John Cena's fallen carcass. His face was full of blood and there were bruises all over his body. He looked as defeated as any man could be. Triple H was no different. Blood was pouring from his mouth and his three broken ribs made sure that even in victory he would feel intense pain. But none of that mattered anymore.

"Yo, Walter!" Triple H said as he looked up, "I did it!"

* * *

Author's note:

An obvious reference to the Rocky series, I know. Well I guess you know what comes next. The last two chapters and then the Epilogue. I should be done writing those by tomorrow and by Sunday this whole thing will be finished. Whew...finally.


	35. WrestleMania Aftermath

WrestleMania XXXVII was an extremely successful event and a historic night in WWE History. The Main Event saw Reid Flair successfully defend the World Heavyweight Championship as well as the rise of a new WWE Champion. Perhaps the most talked about match of the night was the John Cena vs. Triple H match. The build-up towards the match was excellent. Triple H would be fighting for his career which he had just re-launched less than a year earlier. The man did not disappoint, as he walked away the victor, leaving John Cena a bloody mess in the ring.

His victory was not one without repercussions, however.

With Triple H still a member of the Smackdown roster, management did what they had to do to ensure his "fair" dismissal from the company. Overnight, Triple H's contract was modified with the stipulation similar to Ric Flair's in the past. The moment he loses, he retires.

Over the next month or so, management did everything they could to make Triple H lose a match. They made him wrestle on all three brands against all sorts of opponents. To make matters worse, they had scheduled a rematch between him and Cena for Backlash. Fortunately, luck was on Triple H's side.

Reid Flair wasn't going to make it to Backlash. The reigning World Heavyweight Champion had been sidelined with a serious injury, one that threatened his career. A few days before Backlash, a tournament was organized featuring the top wrestlers of all three brands. Sixteen WWE superstars would compete in a tournament in which the winner would be awarded the World Heavyweight Championship. Naturally, both Cena and Triple H were a part of it.

It was going to be a long night, that's for sure.

Backlash was to take place in Madison Square Garden. Aside from the WWE, ECW and Women's Championship matches on the undercard, the main event was the tournament itself. Triple H's match was up first. His first opponent was an ECW superstar named Acheron. Acheron had this religious zealot gimmick going, but not even that could help him kick out of the Pedigree. After only three minutes, Triple H had advanced to the next round.

Backstage, Shane McMahon smiled devilishly.

"Enjoy it while you can, Hunter," He said to himself, "That belt's not coming to you anytime soon."

For his second match of the night, Triple H faced Ted DiBiase, Jr. DiBiase was a better opponent than Acheron, and despite initial difficulty, Triple H was able to score the pinfall after ten minutes. Shane McMahon's expression changed. DiBiase was such a reliable agent. He thought for sure he'd get the job done. John Cena stood behind him, watching the match as well.

"Your match is up next. Go get ready." Shane said without turning.

Cena grunted and left the room. Shane looked back and locked the door as soon the hallway became quiet. Unlike his father, he never quite trusted Cena. Sure, he had an amazing track record with the company, but he was still a superstar. His employee. Maybe, just maybe, after this is done, they can find a way to get rid of Cena as well. Shane quietly contemplated this as he watched the matches closely.

Triple H's third opponent of the night was Jason Teague, the former leader of DX. Now this was interesting, Shane thought to himself, as he watched the drama unfold. Surprisingly, Triple H was pretty much ruthless towards his ex-protégé. After five minutes, Triple H hit the Pedigree for the win. He was headed for the finals. And his opponent was none other than John Cena himself. Their scheduled rematch was back on.

The pay-per-view Main Event would be contested in a No Holds Barred match. Triple H entered the ring with his trusty sledgehammer and waited for the entrance of his hated rival. Cena came running down the ramp pretty soon afterwards and the match was on.

Triple H came at him, swinging the sledgehammer with all his might. Cena backed away and brought a chair into the ring. After one huge swing, however, there was already a large dent on the chair. He aimed a shot straight towards Cena's stomach and connected. Cena fell down on the floor with a sickening thud. Triple H grabbed him by the leg and dragged him out of the ring. There, he picked up Cena's prone body and gave him a Suplex on the concrete floor

"Hey Triple H!" Someone from behind called.

He looked back only to be hit by a steel chair. It was one of McMahon's agents. A large RAW superstar had emerged from the audience, leading a faction of large muscular men with him. They quickly ganged up on him and threw back into the ring. Triple H forced himself to get up and turned to face Cena, who was back in the ring as well. Acting on instinct, Cena grabbed him and lifted him on his shoulders for a punishing F-U. Cena covered him, but only got a two count.

"Hey, what the hell?" Triple H heard Cena say.

He turned to the direction Cena was facing and saw nearly half of the locker room charge towards them. Preparing for the worst, both of them grabbed a nearby weapon and braced themselves. At the exact same moment, the other half of the locker room had emerged from the crowd and charged at them from behind.

"Oh shit…"

He glanced at Cena's face; even he seemed genuinely surprised. The superstars entered the ring at the same time, and perhaps the biggest brawl in the WWE took place. Some fell off the top rope, others stayed in the ring. Several officials ran out along with the referees and tried to pacify the situation. The road agents, the crew workers, everyone came out. This was no elaborate stunt planned by the McMahons. Backstage, even Shane McMahon was stunned.

"What the fuck is going on?!" He said to himself.

He turned to leave the office when he saw a large blond man in a brown trench coat standing in front of him.

"Where do you think you're going?" The blond man said before landing a strong punch on Shane McMahon's face.

Meanwhile, back in the ring, it was total chaos. Bodies were flying everywhere. The environment was insane. Triple H stood alone in the middle of the ring in the midst of all the chaos. He was seemingly ignored by everyone. Yet the strange part was, because this was a no-holds barred match, the match was still technically on. He suddenly had an idea. Gripping his sledgehammer firmly in his hands, he struck Cena at the back. Cena went down quickly, incapacitated. Calling the nearest ref he could find, he immediately went for the pin.

"One!"

"Two!"

"Three!"

The ref ran toward the time keeper, took the bell and rang it as many times as he could. Bewildered, the announcer yelled at the top of his lungs:

"The winner of the match, and the new World Heavyweight Champion…Triple H!"

The crowd cheered and screamed at the top of their lungs. The superstars at ringside paid no heed and continued their brawl. Backstage, Shane McMahon was recovering from that brutal sneak attack. When he came to, the match was over. McMahon had lost. He too screamed at the top of his lungs and proceeded to destroy his office. As for Triple H, the last anybody saw of him that night was when he grabbed the World Heavyweight Championship belt and left through the crowd together with some people dressed in black.

World Wrestling Entertainment had plunged itself into total anarchy.

* * *

Author's Note:

Confused? The last chapter and the epilogue will probably answer most if not all of your questions. One more to go. Thanks for all the reviews, but remember to save some for the sequels!

-Chris Orton


	36. Anarchy Rulz

Batista stared at the arena as the cab approached it. He grabbed a hundred from his wallet and handed it to the driver and then refused the change. He got out and exhaled deeply. Everything seemed normal on the outside, he thought. He came with the information that the entire company had gone utterly insane. Still, something didn't feel right. The parking lot was downright silent. Batista found it creepy. He walked around the building until he saw the door that led to the backstage area. As he got inside, he immediately bumped into a tall blond man.

"Hush?" Batista said in surprise, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Helping out the old man, that's what." Hush replied.

"What?"

Suddenly, a large group of people in black came running down the corridor. They were like bodyguards, and in the middle was Triple H with the World Heavyweight Championship in his hands. They all stopped and took off their masks. The people in black were no other than the former members of DX and Stephanie McMahon.

"Whoa! What's going on here?" Batista asked.

"This, Dave," Triple H said, "Is WWE's true colors."

"You won the World Championship. Nice." Batista said, nodding towards the big gold belt.

"Fifteen times's the charm."

"So what's going on here? And what's he doing here?" he said, this time, nodding towards Hush.

"I guess we have a lot to explain." Triple H said, "We planned this, all of this. Hush told his cronies to entice a riot and lead it into the ring. When the huge riot happens, I win the match, and now, they're gonna get me the hell out of here."

"But wait a minute," Batista said, stopping them, "Why him? I still don't understand."

"I was one of their agents," Hush replied.

"I was told to test Triple H when he first came back and then I was tasked to take him out when things got out of control. The McMahons were afraid that the superstars might rally behind him, and therefore, ruin years of planning. They gave me control of the entire ECW locker room and orchestrated everything that happened. When I failed, they tried to take me out, so I fled."

"Okay, but why side with Hunter now?"

"He did something that the McMahons never did."

"And what's that?"

"Earn my respect and admiration." Hush replied proudly.

"And what about these guys?" Batista said, pointing to DX, "I thought you guys disbanded."

"Oh, we did," Jason said, "But we're still loyal to each other. We're brothers and teammates for life."

"We faked every thing that happened in our match this evening." Triple H said, "I could've let Jason beat me and advance in the tournament, but he refused."

"Besides, Triple H with the World Title is still a better symbol of what we stand for, anyway."

"I see…So what happens now?"

A large sound was heard. They all turned to face the direction of the sound. The riot was spilling to the backstage area as well. Without saying anything, Hush ran towards it. He turned one last time and nodded. Triple H did the same thing and as soon as Hush left, they all ran for the door.

"Where's he going?"

"Back to the arena. He's got a riot to intensify."

They approached a big black bus. They door opened and they all got in slowly. William Regal was in the driver's seat.

"C'mon, c'mon! We haven't got all day! Those bloody McMahons are sure to catch us if we don't leave now!"

They all got in. Triple H went inside last and turned to Batista, who stood motionless outside. He extended his hand, but Batista refused.

"Dave, get in!"

"Sorry Hunter. I won't. This is your fight, and I'm just gonna stay here and watch what happens next."

"Fine. Guess this is good-bye for now, Dave."

"Hunter?"

"Yeah?"

"When you first returned, did you ever expect this crazy shit to happen?"

"No, but you know what they say, Never say-"

"Never…" Batista continued, "So are you happy now? Is this the life you wanted?"

"This will be a good life. Good enough."

With that, Triple H closed the door and the bus drove off into the highway. Batista looks back and considers going inside the arena, but as he approaches the door, his hands hesitate and in the end, he decided not to. With the streets empty, and him with no car, he decided to just walk. Walking's good, he though, as he followed Triple H and co.'s path: walking northward up the highway, into darkness and an uncertain future.


	37. Epilogue

Due to the circumstances of the WWE pay-per-view, Backlash, Shane McMahon was removed from his position as Chairman of World Wrestling Entertainment. It was a unanimous vote by the Board of Directors. His sister, Stephanie McMahon, was promoted in his place. Since then, Shane had no other choice but to vacate his position of RAW General Manager as well. He now works for WWE as Executive of Global Communications. As for his role as RAW GM, he was succeeded by Dave Batista.

The state of WWE has calmed down, somewhat. To do this, a draft lottery immediately took place, effectively disbanding 80 of the stables and factions in WWE. Cyrus had also vacated his position as Smackdown's General Manager and was subsequently replaced by Randy Orton, who decided to quietly retire as an active competitor.

Jonathan Coachman still serves as the ECW General Manager. But he is on probation, and any mistake on his part will result in his immediate dismissal. Many of ECW's previous superstars had been drafted away to the other brands, and as a result of the new superstars that came in, ECW no longer has the chaotic atmosphere it once had, although its hardcore reputation still lingers.

John Cena remains on Smackdown on a part-time basis. Despite his collaboration with the McMahons, he remains a respected, but also somewhat disliked veteran in the locker room. He has since taken a leave of absence and is working on a Hollywood film with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Nathan Kress.

Hush, whose real name was John Reily, was killed in a plane crash two months after Backlash. He was on his way home after an overseas tour in Europe. He was only twenty-three years old. He is survived by his wife and seven-month old son. Triple H was one of the poll bearers at his funeral.

Triple H's fifteenth title reign lasted only two months. He was dethroned by Bane the Leviathan, a 7'4, 530 pound giant of a man, who was out with an injury over the past year. Fortunately, Triple H still has a rematch clause in his contract…

Game Over, for now.

* * *

Author's note:

I just want to thank everyone who has read this, and for those who gave me such wonderful reviews. This was my first time writing anything, and thank you for making it such a wonderful experience. Please feel free to give me your reactions towards this chapter and to the whole story in general. For those of you who liked this story, fear not, because I will be working on the sequel's story and I should be able to start posting it by April of 2009(Wow! a long time, huh?)

Coming Next:

WWE: The Game Strikes back:

Book 2 of Triple H's comeback story, Triple H fights to regain his championship from the Leviathan, Bane. Will he have the strength to take back whats his? or will he succumb to the Leviathan's power. As he fights for his title, Triple H also learns more about the Leviathan's mysterious and tragic past...


End file.
